U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon of the Southern District of Florida absolutely tore into the prosecutor for the Department of Justice team investigating former President Donald Trump in the classified documents case against him. The basis for her admonishing the prosecutor was the attempt of the DOJ to modify his release conditions to include a restriction on his speech.
Harbach, as background, claimed that an informal gag order was necessary before the trial regarding Trump’s handling of classified documents and the 2022 FBI raid on his Mar-a-Lago estate, claiming that Trump’s potential comments on the matter could somehow endanger law enforcement officers involved in the case.
Making the case for the gag order, Harbach claimed that Trump must be prevented from making specific comments regarding the case, saying that Trump supporters could be dangerous. He gave examples, Fox News Digital reported, of Trump supporters not being particularly enthused about the FBI as Trump sounded off on it following the raid.
Giving an example, Harbach referred to a fundraising email in which Trump wrote, “BIDEN’S DOJ WAS AUTHORIZED TO SHOOT ME!” He continued, “It’s just been revealed that Biden’s DOJ was authorized to use DEADLY FORCE for their DESPICABLE raid in Mar-a-Lago. You know they’re just itching to do the unthinkable.”
Referring to that email, in which former President Trump also claimed President Joe Biden was “locked & loaded” and “ready to take me out & put my family in danger,” Harbach said, “Saying something like this is beyond irresponsible.” He added, “It is dangerous.”
Judge Cannon, however, was skeptical of Harbach’s claims and continued to hit him with questions, something that frustrated and annoyed him, as it prevented him from getting through his list of arguments. He then complained to Judge Cannon that he had only been able to get out one point several minutes into his argument because of her questions.
That set her off. Bellowing at him for his rude comment, Judge Cannon snapped, “Mr. Harbach, I don’t appreciate your tone. I expect decorum in this courtroom at all times. If you cannot do that, I’m sure one of your colleagues can take up this motion.” Harbach later cooled off and apologized to Judge Cannon for acting in an “unprofessional” manner.
Fox News Digital, adding more context about what might have led to Judge Cannon’s question and annoyance with Harbach’s line of reasoning and argument, noted that she pressed him on his claims about the FBI agents and the risk to them. It reported:
As part of his argument, the prosecutor noted several FBI agents involved in the raid had their names made public. When Cannon asked who made those names public, he would not say, but claimed the prosecution was aware. The judge was seemingly irritated by the response, and questioned why the prosecution wouldn’t come forward with that information, allowing for the person who released the names to be prosecuted.
Trump attorney Todd Blanche, pushing back on the DOJ’s gag order demand, argued, “There’s a big difference between a traditional gag order and what the government is trying to do here.” He continued, “We concede that people listen to President Trump. That shouldn’t be used against him. He’s running for president of the United States.”
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