FILE – This image contained in a court filing by the Department of Justice on Aug. 30, 2022, and partially redacted by the source, shows a photo of documents seized during the Aug. 8 FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. The classified documents indictment of Donald Trump would seem, on paper at least, to be the most straightforward of the four criminal cases the former president is facing.
Smith’s team has maintained that Attorney General Merrick Garland, as head of the U.S. Justice Department, was empowered to appoint Smith and to delegate prosecutorial decisions to him. The daylong hearing on Friday at the Alto Lee Adams, Sr. United States Courthouse focuses on arguments similar to those rejected by other judges in challenges to special counsels Mueller, who investigated Trump’s relationship with Russia, and David Weiss, who has been prosecuting President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, on gun and tax charges.
Critics of the judge assert that Cannon has effectively bought into a defense strategy of delaying a trial until after the November presidential election. She has conducted lengthy hearings on issues, they say, that most other judges would have quickly ruled upon after reviewing written motions filed with the court.