Trump melts down on Truth Social over Jack Smith “attacking” Judge Aileen Cannon

Former president says special counsel should be "sanctioned or censured" for pushing back on Trump-appointed judge

By Igor Derysh

Managing Editor

Published April 4, 2024 10:57AM (EDT)

Jack Smith and Donald Trump (Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images)
Jack Smith and Donald Trump (Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images)

Former President Donald Trump on Thursday said special counsel Jack Smith should be “sanctioned or censured” for “attacking” the Trump-appointed judge overseeing his classified documents case.

Smith this week pushed back on a recent order from U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon that seemed to give credence to Trump’s legally dubious claim that the Presidential Records Act allowed him to take the documents home to Mar-a-Lago. Smith in a filing said that Cannon’s order to submit proposed jury instructions based on Trump’s interpretation of the law was based on a “fundamentally flawed legal premise” that has “no bearing” on Trump’s charges and asked Cannon to rule before the trial so he can appeal if she rules against him.

“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 on Truth Social Thursday morning.

“He is a lowlife who is nasty, rude, and condescending, and obviously trying to ‘play the ref,’” Trump claimed. “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. 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!”

Legal experts widely say Smith is likely to prevail on appeal if Cannon rules against him and some even think the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals may remove her from the case after previously shooting down two of her rulings. But while Cannon has come under fire for potentially aiding Trump by delaying the trial, CNN legal analyst Elie Honig warned that if Smith moves to remove Cannon, it "will delay this more than anything that’s happened so far."


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