'Matter of life and death': Former US attorney slams Judge Cannon’s latest 'absurd' ruling

29 May 2024

After U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon once again denied a motion by Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith's team in former President Donald Trump's classified documents case, one former federal prosecutor is crying foul.

Recently, Smith asked the judge overseeing the Mar-a-Lago case in the Southern District of Florida to grant an emergency gag order preventing Trump from making baseless claims that FBI agents somehow intended to assassinate him when conducting their raid for classified documents stored at his private residence. Cannon denied that motion on the grounds that Smith had not appropriately consulted with defense attorneys beforehand.

However, Smith in fact did ask Trump's lawyers prior to bringing the motion, who reportedly rebuffed his attempt at a conversation on Friday, saying they would speak with him after the Memorial Day weekend. But in a recent MSNBC interview, Barbara McQuade — the former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan — said it was in fact Trump's lawyers who were acting inappropriately, given that Smith's request was concerning the safety of federal agents.

"This is like the fire department being scolded for failing to say 'mother, may I' before saving the baby from the burning building," McQuade said. "The defense can just slow-walk it because it's a holiday weekend, when it's literally a matter of life and death and protecting the lives of FBI agents."

"Although the judge, I suppose, is technically enforcing a rule that's on the books, the idea that the prosecution has to wait until the defense is good and ready to file this motion strikes me as absurd," she added.

In recent weeks, both Trump and his surrogates have been spreading the debunked claim that FBI agents were intending to use deadly force on the ex-president when carrying out the search warrant on Mar-a-Lago. But in fact, Smith argued that the DOJ took great pains to execute the warrant when Trump was out of state, and coordinated well ahead of time with his Secret Service detail and Mar-a-Lago staff in order to prioritize the safety of everyone present.

"The document that is being referred to in the investigation is a Justice Department standard policy limiting the use of force," Attorney General Merrick Garland said last week. "As the FBI advises, it is part of the standard operations plan for searches, and in fact it was even used in the consensual search of President Biden."

According to the AP, the standard policy Garland referred to is present in FBI documents pertaining to conducting searches, and is even seen on its own website.

"FBI special agents may use deadly force only when necessary—when the agent has a reasonable belief that the subject of such force poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the agent or another person," the FBI website reads. "If feasible, a verbal warning to submit to the authority of the special agent is given prior to the use of deadly force."

Watch McQuade's segment below, or by clicking this link.

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