The federal judge overseeing former President Donald Trump's classified documents case has taken her delay dalliances so far as to put American lives at risk, according to a seething new editorial.
Salon editor Charles R. Davis on Monday slammed Judge Aileen Cannon's delays in considering special counsel Jack Smith plea to tighten restrictions on Trump's dangerous rhetoric, which has seen law enforcement face threats of family slaughter, as she ponders the former president's ravings about assassination plots, shadow governments and deep state henchmen.
"What are we even doing here?" Davis demands to know.
Davis' analysis examines recent hearings considering Trump's challenge to Smith's right to prosecute and Smith's plea that Cannon address what he describes as an "egregious" Trump lie: that "deep state henchmen" who raided Mar-a-Lago were authorized to kill him.
The contrast is one Davis describes as "odd."
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"What was odd was not just the legal arguments but that Cannon — who last month indefinitely postponed a trial, citing all the work she still has to do — agreed to hold the hearing at all," he writes.
Davies argues Cannon should have done what Smith requested on May 24 and modify Trump's bail conditions to stop him from making comments that could incite violence against law enforcement officials.
"Over a month will have passed before Smith’s team is allowed to present their arguments in court; in that time, members of the MAGA base, never ones to believe a fact check, have turned Trump’s dangerous rhetoric into deadly threats," Davies writes.
"One supporter was arrested earlier this month for threatening to 'slaughter' an FBI agent and their family over grievances ranging from Hunter Biden to the 2020 election," he concludes.
"And yet...Cannon has dallied, focusing her court’s attention on a 'completely frivolous' argument that the Department of Justice is not allowed to have special prosecutors."
