Tensions in a Florida courtroom briefly flared during a hearing in Donald Trump’s classified documents case on Wednesday, with the judge reprimanding a prosecutor for repeatedly raising his voice.
The hearing is the first of two scheduled to deal with a bid by Trump co-defendant Walt Nauta to get his charges dismissed over alleged “vindictive” prosecution. The pre-trial motion is among a batch of unresolved issues that have snarled proceedings in the case, leading U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to indefinitely delay the trial, which otherwise would have started this week.
But the mood in the room turned sour as the attorneys in the room began sparring over whether Nauta’s defense team had been arm-twisted by prosecutors seeking to get the Mar-a-Lago valet to turn on his boss, for whom he still works.
