Trump Judge Quashes Jack Smith Motion to Keep Documents Sealed

Donald Trump has very few friendly faces on the bench in the federal and civil suits he is facing.

The only judge he will possibly get any breaks from is Judge Aileen Cannon, who he appointed to the bench.

To that point, Cannon just denied the motion by Special Counsel to keep certain discovery documents sealed in order to protect witnesses.

Surprise

I have to admit, even though Cannon is the judge in this case, I was a bit surprised at this ruling.

I say that because of the reason for the previous gag orders that were placed against Trump.

Smith wanted documents that could reveal any potential witnesses to remain sealed to keep witnesses safe and prevent witness “intimidation.”

Now, if you recall, the reason that Trump was slapped with a gag order in the other cases was because of his online rants against witnesses, court members, attorneys, and judges.

After some of his rants, threats were reported against key individuals involved in these cases, especially Judge Engoron, who presided over the New York fraud case brought by Attorney General Letitia James.

Judge Cannon did not agree with Smith’s argument, ruling, “Following an independent review of the Motion and the full record, the Court determines, with limited exceptions as detailed below, that the Special Counsel has not set forth a sufficient factual or legal basis warranting deviation from the strong presumption in favor of public access to the records at issue.

“Although substantiated witness safety and intimidation concerns can form a valid basis for overriding the strong presumption in favor of public access, the Special Counsel’s sparse and undifferentiated Response fails to provide the Court with the necessary factual basis to justify sealing.”

The ruling concluded, “Notwithstanding the conventional filing procedure outlined in Local Rule 5.4(c), there shall be no filing under seal of any unclassified material in this case unless the party seeking to make a filing under full or partial seal first has sought and obtained permission from the Court through a motion for leave to file under seal.

“The motion for leave shall be filed publicly except in clear and supported cases of risk to personal safety or national security.”

This, of course, could change if Trump goes on Truth Social and starts exposing witnesses, and threats are made once their identities have been exposed.