In a three-page order handed down on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon rules that Donald Trump cannot escape prosecution with his claim that the Presidential Records Act turned sensitive government documents into his own personal property after departing the White House at the end of his term.
In her decision, made days after special counsel Jack Smith stated in a filing that Cannon's hypothetical jury instructions in the former president's classified documents case were based on a "fundamentally flawed legal premise,” asking the Trump-appointee to "promptly" decide whether the "unstated legal premise" undergirding her order represents the court's view of a "correct formulation of the law," she declined his demand to reveal her legal thinking on the matter quickly, writing, "to the extent the Special Counsel demands an anticipatory finalization of jury instructions prior to trial, prior to a charge conference, and prior to the presentation of trial defenses and evidence, the Court declines that demand as unprecedented and unjust.”
