Ex-US attorney: Jack Smith "may need to politely tell Judge Cannon to butt out" after latest order [View all]

[Nevilledog]

https://www.salon.com/2023/08/08/ex-us-attorney-jack-smith-may-need-to-politely-tell-cannon-to-butt-out-after-latest-order/

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon on Monday asked special counsel Jack Smith about his use of an out-of-district grand jury in the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump.

Cannon, the federal judge in South Florida assigned to the case, is demanding answers from Smith on the "legal propriety of using an out-of-district grand jury proceeding to continue to investigate and/or to seek post-indictment hearings on matters pertinent to the instant indicted matter in this district."

Most of the classified documents case is being handled out of Cannon's district in South Florida, but some grand jury work in the case was also conducted in Washington D.C., where the former president was also recently indicted for his attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

Cannon took issue with this and questioned why a grand jury heard evidence in D.C. after Trump had already been indicted by a grand jury in Florida, demanding an explanation from Smith by Aug. 22.

"Based on her order, it appears that Cannon is crossing into the government's lane," former U.S. Attorney Barb McQuade, a University of Michigan law professor, told Salon. "Under the constitutional separation of powers structure, the executive branch has sole authority to investigate and charge criminal offenses. There is no reason the special counsel cannot investigate related charges in other districts."

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