Cannon grants Trump delay in Espionage Act case amid report he allegedly shared nuclear secrets at Mar-a-Lago

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06 October 2023

Within hours of multiple news outlets reporting that shortly after he left office, Donald Trump allegedly shared classified secrets about America’s nuclear submarines with a member of his Mar-a-Lago resort, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon granted the ex-president a delay he had requested in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s case alleging violations of the Espionage Act.

Judge Cannon’s apparent support for the ex-president who placed her on the federal bench has been widely discussed by legal experts. At least one of her rulings in favor of Trump was reversed by a higher court that admonished her for overstepping her authority.

“Months after leaving the White House, former President Donald Trump allegedly discussed potentially sensitive information about U.S. nuclear submarines with a member of his Mar-a-Lago Club — an Australian billionaire who then allegedly shared the information with scores of others, including more than a dozen foreign officials, several of his own employees, and a handful of journalists, according to sources familiar with the matter,” ABC News reported Thursday evening.

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“The potential disclosure was reported to special counsel Jack Smith’s team as they investigated Trump’s alleged hoarding of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, the sources told ABC News. The information could shed further light on Trump’s handling of sensitive government secrets.”

Friday morning, Judge Cannon granted Donald Trump a temporary pause in the case alleging he unlawfully removed from the White House, retained, and refused to return – even after being served a subpoena – classified documents. Photos of boxes allegedly containing some of the hundreds of classified and top secret documents he had stored on a stage and in a restroom at his Mar-a-Lago resort and residence have been widely shared online.

“And right on time,” MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin sardonically suggested, “and even before Oct. 12, enter Judge Cannon, with the first step of the relief Trump wanted in postponing the classified documents case.”

The Messenger reported that the “federal judge overseeing Donald Trump’s classified documents criminal case on Friday temporarily paused series of key pre-trial deadlines tied to the prosecutors’ sharing of sensitive evidence that the former president is entitled to while mounting his defense.”

Judge Cannon “signed a paperless order halting for now the deadlines she’d previously set stretching from October through May, when the trial for Trump and three of his co-defendants is currently slated to begin in Fort Pierce, Fla.”

“Cannon’s order doesn’t address the May 20, 2024, start date for the trial itself. But it does note all of the scheduled deadlines tied to classified information are on hold ‘pending consideration and resolution’ of a Trump motion filed last month that had proposed a new timeline.”

On Thursday, The New York Times reported, “In a court filing on Wednesday night, Mr. Trump’s legal team proposed moving the start of the trial to mid-November from May 20, the date set by Judge Aileen M. Cannon.”

Judge Cannon has yet to respond to that request.

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