Thursday afternoon, U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon issued her first major ruling in the case brought against him by Special Counsel Jack Smith, who was appointed by Biden’s Department of Justice.

Cannon declared in a brief order that all attorneys in the case, as well as Trump’s longstanding valet Walt Nauta, who is charged alongside him as an alleged co-conspirator, must contact the DOJ regarding security clearances.

“Cannon ordered the attorneys to file a ‘notice of compliance’ by June 20, a relatively rapid pace. Both Trump and Nauta are looking to fill out their legal teams in the coming days. Trump, in particular, has suffered setbacks as several of his veteran lawyers quit the case in the leadup to his indictment, the result of internal turmoil that has spilled into public view,” Politico reported.

“There are no additional dates set yet in the case against Trump, whose historic arraignment was completed on Tuesday in Miami. Nauta’s arraignment was postponed until June 27 because he did not yet have a lawyer who is a member of the bar in the federal court in south Florida,” the outlet added.

Hugo Lowell, a correspondent for the Guardian, tweeted, “New on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago agenda: A US judge, Aileen Cannon, orders defense counsel to contact DOJ by June 16 or before to expedite the security clearance process and submit a compliance notice by June 20. This case does not appear to be subject to Cannon’s recusal.”

A former criminal defense counsel for Trump argued earlier this week that the investigation into Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents may not even proceed to trial.

During an interview on Fox News, Timothy Parlatore, who served as Trump’s criminal defense attorney until last month, spoke with host Laura Ingraham about Trump’s arraignment in Miami on Tuesday. Smith, who was appointed by Biden’s Department of Justice, brought the case against Trump.

Trump entered his “not guilty” plea in federal court. Trump, President Joe Biden’s chief opponent in next year’s presidential election, could face decades in prison if proven guilty on all charges.

Parlatore argued that there are fundamental faults in the case, specifically regarding the grand jury process and violations of attorney-client privilege. Parlatore stated that he believes this could result in the dismissal of the entire case.

Trump’s attorneys should “attack the conduct of the entire investigation and demonstrate through death by a thousand cuts why this entire investigation is irreparably tainted by government misconduct,” according to Parlatore. “The case should be dismissed or, at the very least, the prosecutor should be disqualified,” he added.

A report surfaced earlier this week that Smith may execute a “backup plan” if his case against Trump in Florida fails.

Professors of law at New York University Ryan Goodman and Andrew Weissmann speculated in an op-ed for The Atlantic that if the classified documents case against Trump in Florida fails, Smith could pursue charges of “dissemination of classified documents” in New Jersey in a separate indictment.

“Smith appears to have taken a cautious, narrow approach. Even though the indictment describes alleged dissemination and disclosure of national-security secrets, the indictment did not charge Trump with those offenses,” they write. “One possible explanation for his decision: venue. The Constitution requires prosecutors to bring charges in the location—or venue—where the alleged criminal conduct took place. Justice Department prosecutors could not necessarily bring charges against Trump in Miami for alleged criminal conduct that occurred in another state, in this case New Jersey. But the absence of such charges in the indictment raises the intriguing possibility of another indictment to come, in a jurisdiction, no less, with a pool of jurors and judges more favorable to the government’s case against Trump,” the authors wrote in the report.

More on this story via Conservative Brief:

The report goes on to speculate that if the Florida judge were to delay the case proceedings after the 2024 presidential election, Smith could move ahead with charges in New Jersey — a Democrat stronghold that would likely not be favorable to Trump. CONTINUE READING…