Trump-Appointed Judge Scolds Prosecutor At Trump Docs Hearing: ‘I Don’t Appreciate Your Tone’
Judge Aileen Cannon scolded a member of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team during a hearing in former President Donald Trump’s Espionage Act case, telling him, “I don’t appreciate your tone.”
On Monday, Judge Cannon — a Trump appointee — held a hearing on a variety of issues, including on Smith’s motion demanding Trump be gagged from making statements like his false claims President Joe Biden tried to assassinate him with the FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago. Critics have accused Judge Cannon of slow-walking the case and making rulings adverse to the prosecution.
That hearing did not seem to go well for Smith and his team, as Cannon seemed skeptical of the gag order and at one point scolded prosecutor David Harbach. From The New York Times:
Addressing Judge Cannon, David Harbach, one of Mr. Smith’s top deputies, said that Mr. Trump’s remarks about the F.B.I. were not only false but also dangerous. The danger, he added, was amplified by what he described as the “potent tool” of Mr. Trump’s Truth Social account, which the former president has often used to rile up millions of his supporters.
Judge Cannon, however, seemed to have a hard time discerning a direct connection between Mr. Trump’s messages and any palpable threats to agents working on the documents case. She also noted that she had already redacted the agents’ names from public filings, a measure she took to protect them against harm.
But when she seemed to question Mr. Harbach’s contention that the names of some of the agents had already been made public and that other agents had faced threats in the earlier remarks by Mr. Trump, he visibly lost his patience.
Ultimately, Judge Cannon scolded Mr. Harbach from the bench — the second time she has done so in the past two months.
“I don’t appreciate your tone,” she told him. “I think we have been here before. I expect decorum in this courtroom. If you’re not able to do that, I’m sure one of your colleagues could take your place.”
Harbach went on to apologize to the judge.
Smith filed a blistering brief Friday detailing threats that have already resulted from Trump’s statements in the past.
