Special Counsel Jack Smith reportedly held a closed-door meeting with Judge Aileen Cannon. Despite former President Donald Trump and his legal representatives not being present, Smith, who has filed two indictments against Trump, met with the judge on January 31.
In addition to the 32 counts of improper retention of national security secrets that Trump currently faces in Florida, he is now confronted with eight more accusations.
These charges include making false statements and conspiring to conceal them.
Trump maintains that all the allegations against him are politically motivated and denies each one of them.
The “ex parte” hearing scheduled for January 31 pertains to objections raised by Trump’s attorneys.
These objections seek access to confidential documents that are not available to the public due to their sensitive nature.
In a request made in December of the previous year, Trump’s attorneys stated their intention to obtain restricted access exclusively for attorneys.
This access is sought so they can challenge assertions made by Smith during adversarial proceedings.
Ex parte hearings are conducted without the involvement of affected parties and do not have transcripts, meaning the content of conversations between Cannon and the special counsel will remain undisclosed.
The outcome of this hearing could have significant implications for the trial as it is anticipated that the Justice Department (DOJ) will appeal Cannon’s decision, regardless of whether it favors Trump partially or entirely.
This appeal would be considered interlocutory, requiring further actions or decisions before the trial commences.
Consequently, there is a possibility that the trial date, currently set for May 20 this year, may be postponed due to these developments.
If Cannon disagrees with the case presented by the prosecution, former United States Attorney Joyce Vance assured that any appeal from Smith’s office will be promptly addressed in a fair manner.
“While we won’t learn much if anything about what happens when the Special Counsel’s team sits down with Judge Cannon, we’ll find out if they object to anything that happened fairly quickly, in the form of a notice of appeal to the 11th Circuit,” Vance said.
Reports indicate that the key to the case and upcoming hearing is the Classified Information Procedures Act.
This, according to the DOJ website, “applies both when the government intends to use classified information in its case-in-chief as well as when the defendant seeks to use classified information in his/her defense.”