Report: Jack Smith may soon seek judge's recusal from Trump documents case

The legal back-and-forth in former President Donald Trump's classified documents case shows no signs of abating, as news has emerged about a potential strategy that may soon be launched by government prosecutors.

As the Post Millennial reports, it appears increasingly possible that special counsel Jack Smith may seek to force the removal of Judge Aileen Cannon, the Trump-appointed jurist overseeing the matter in federal court.

Smith on the verge?

Citing a report from NBC News, the outlet explained that Smith recently took issue with the manner in which Cannon dealt with what he called “fundamentally flawed” arguments regarding the distinction between official and personal records.

Cannon's conduct came in the context of a request she made for both the prosecution and defense teams to offer competing examples of potential jury instructions.

It was then that Smith suggested that if Cannon ruled in a manner adverse to his team, he would have the option of pursuing her removal from the matter altogether.

Cannon suggested that her approach was simply “a genuine attempt....to better understand the parties' competing positions and the questions to be submitted to the jury in this complex case of first impression.”

According to Palm Beach County State Attorney David Aronberg, that stance has nudged Smith “close to pushing the nuclear button” in terms of seeking her removal.

Trump responds to critique

The former president did not take kindly to Smith's attack on Cannon, and he took to his Truth Social platform to make his feelings known.

“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.

Trump did not stop there, adding that smith “is a lowlife who is nasty rude, and condescending, and obviously trying to 'play the ref.'”

The former president added, “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.”

Comparing the scrutiny of his conduct to that afforded Joe Biden in the wake of similar accusations, Trump declared, “I DID NOTHING WRONG, BUT BIDEN DID, AND THEY LET HIM OFF SCOT-FREE. HOW DID THAT H APPEN JACK? A TWO-TIERED SYSTEM OF JUSTICE. ELECTION INTERFERENCE!”