(The Center Square) – Former President Donald Trump called for special counsel Jack Smith to be sanctioned or censured for “attacking” the judge in Trump’s classified documents case.
Trump’s comments on Thursday come after Smith and his team of prosecutors made it clear they think Judge Aileen Cannon’s latest ruling was based on “an unstated and fundamentally flawed legal premise.” Prosecutors objected to Cannon’s order to produce proposed jury instructions under two different legal scenarios. Smith said both legal scenarios were flawed.
In response to the judge’s order, prosecutors said they need clarification on Cannon’s position so they can appeal if needed. They asked the judge to decide before the trial if the Presidential Records Act “has an impact on the element of unauthorized possession” of classified documents. Failure to do so could make it impossible to prosecute Trump because of the double jeopardy clause in the Fifth Amendment, which prohibits anyone from being prosecuted twice for the same crime.
Trump lashed out Thursday morning.
“Deranged ‘Special’ Counsel Jack Smith, who has a long record of failure as a prosecutor, including a unanimous decision against him in the U.S. Supreme Court, should be sanctioned or censured for the way he is attacking a highly respected Judge, Aileen Cannon, who is presiding over his FAKE Documents Hoax case in Florida,” Trump wrote in a message posted to Truth Social.
Trump also said Smith shouldn’t be on the case.
“He shouldn’t even be allowed to participate in this sham case, where I, unlike Crooked Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and all the rest, come under the Presidential Records Act,” Trump wrote. “I DID NOTHING WRONG, BUT BIDEN DID, AND THEY LET HIM OFF SCOT-FREE. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN, JACK? A TWO TIERED SYSTEM OF JUSTICE. ELECTION INTERFERENCE!”
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 40 felony counts that allege he kept sensitive military documents, shared them with people who didn’t have security clearance and tried to get around the government’s attempts to get them back.
Trump faces a rematch against President Joe Biden in this year’s presidential election. Trump also faces three other criminal cases in New York, Georgia and another federal case in Washington D.C. He’s used millions of dollars in campaign contributions to pay his mounting legal bills.
Trump also is appealing a $464 million fine in a civil case in New York. He posted a $175 million bond to appeal that decision.
