David Harbach, an attorney affiliated with the legal team of special counsel Jack Smith, presented a unique legal perspective that resulted in an unfavorable response from Judge Aileen Cannon, who expressed her dissatisfaction with the perceived inefficiency of the court proceedings. The aforementioned judgement was associated with a series of hearings held in Florida concerning the co-defendants of former President Donald Trump, namely Carlos De Oliveira and Walt Nauta, in the case involving the Mar-a-Lago records. During these proceedings, Mr. Trump presented an argument based on the existence of a conflict of interest.
Based on a report by The Epoch Times, De Oliveira and Nauta, who are co-defendants with Trump in the alleged mishandling of secret documents, have been the subject of motions filed by Harbach. These motions assert that the attorneys representing De Oliveira and Nauta have conflicts of interest, which may impede their ability to provide a proper defense for their clients.
Harbach argued at the concurrent hearings that the reason for the ethical problem with the legal representation of both men was that the attorneys had previously represented three possible witnesses in the case, even though they were no longer representing them.
As stated by The Times:
“Harbach pointed out that this meant Mr. Irving would not be able to call the character or credibility of his three former clients into question during cross-examinations, his argument did not go smoothly. He tripped over his words as he presented the new argument, which was shut down by the defense.”
In the hearing with Mr. Nauta that followed, Harbach made the same argument. “Saying the lawyer would not be able to stand up and attack a witness’s credibility and character in defense of his client, the defense immediately seized upon it, stalling the proceeding.”
Judge Cannon then vocally criticized Harbach after he cited three cases from different judicial circuits outside the 11th which therefore couldn’t be used as precedents and expressed her frustration. She added that it was unclear what Mr. Harbach was seeking to accomplish, whether he was requesting she prohibit the attorneys from questioning their former clients or not.
Political analyst and independent journalist Julie Kelly asserted, “Judge Cannon gave Jack Smith’s side a severe beating today in the case involving secret documents. Through the “Garcia” hearing, Smith is attempting to disqualify defense counsel. Throughout today’s proceedings, they attempted to modify their argument. She refused to accept it. A hero.
I’ll have more on this soon but Jack Smith’s team got slapped HARD today by Judge Cannon in classified docs case. Smith is trying to disqualify defense counsel per “Garcia” hearing. They tried to change their argument during proceedings today. She was having none of it. Hero. pic.twitter.com/drPlNTeD1i
— Julie Kelly (@julie_kelly2) October 13, 2023
The main source of contention appears to be a difference that exists between Harbach’s submissions and his real argument, to which Cannon observed, telling him, “That’s a different argument.” Harbach had tried to debate this issue with the magistrate.
Ultimately, Cannon directed that a hearing regarding De Oliviera’s understanding of potential conflicts of interest with his attorney be postponed, according to Axios.
Then, the Judge gave Smith’s team the bad news, “I do want to admonish the government for frankly wasting the court’s time.”
According to the Washington Post, Cannon went on to say that she was “disappointed” at Smith’s office’s conduct. pound the Smith team.
The post Judge Goes Ballistic On Jack Smith For Wasting Court’s Time appeared first on The Republic Brief.
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