Noted attorney Alan Dershowitz and Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett said special counsel Jack Smith was using “intimidation tactics” against United States District Judge Aileen Cannon on Friday.
Cannon, a Trump appointee, rejected an effort by former President Donald Trump’s attorneys to have the charges in Trump’s classified documents case dismissed under the Presidential Record Act, but also rebuked Smith for his tone in documents he filed prior to her ruling. Jarrett noted that Smith had used “thuggish tactics” in previous cases.
“He has railroaded defendants only to be chastised and reversed and now he’s pulling the same intimidation tactics with Judge Cannon,” Jarrett told Fox Business host Larry Kudlow, a former Trump administration official. “He demanded she accept his version of proposed jury instructions excluding Trump’s main defense, the presidential records act and he went so far as to trying to have her kicked off the case if she didn’t capitulate.”
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A federal grand jury issued a 37-count indictment against Trump in June based on an investigation into allegations surrounding classified documents.
“Correctly, she told him to stuff it because jury instructions, they are never finalized until the evidence and testimony is introduced,” Jarrett continued. “My goodness, if I had made that dumb demand of a judge in the cases I’ve tried, the judge would tell me to stand on the corner with a dunce cap because a judge can’t possibly know how to instruct the jury until all evidence is presented. I think Cannon has been tolerant of Smith’s contentious abusive attitude whereas other judges would have held him in contempt for his insubordinate arrogance.”
Dershowitz, who has been critical of the indictments of Trump in the past, noted that Smith’s actions seemed to indicate fear about the judge and a potential jury in the case.
“What Jack Smith is terrified about, is he might actually have a fair trial in Florida,” Dershowitz said. “He knows he’s not going to have a fair trial in Washington D.C., 95% of the voters hate Donald Trump, he knows there’s not going to be a fair trial in Georgia, certainly not in New York and he’s terrified that this judge in a fair county in Florida might actually give Donald Trump his rights to a fair trial, so he’s doing everything to provoke the judge, possibly make a motion to recuse.”
Dershowitz also said Smith was trying to provoke Cannon into making a ruling they could appeal.
“The Trump people are being accused of trying to delay the trial,” Dershowitz said “That’s nonsense, it’s the prosecution that’s trying to rush the trial. Jack Smith said the people of the United States are entitled to a guilty verdict before they decide who to vote for. That’s – almost an admission… that’s actually an admission of election interference.”
