On Wednesday the 22nd, shouting erupted in the courtroom of US District Judge Aileen Cannon, which is hearing the classified documents prosecution against former American President Donald J. Trump.
Reports which emerged from the south Florida courtroom indicate that the disorder erupted during a hearing for Walt Nauta, one of the other two defendants who have been charged alongside the former President. Nauta argued that the United States Department of Justice is engaging in malicious prosecution against him, and that this constitutes grounds for dismissal of the indictment.
Donald Trump stands accused of forty felony counts in the case. Federal prosecutors have charged him with withholding and mishandling classified documents that the former President took from the White House when he left office. Walt Nauta is a longtime Trump aide, and is accused of moving the boxes containing the sensitive materials in order to conceal them from the federal agents who were attempting to locate and retrieve them.
During the hearing on Wednesday, Stanley Woodward (Nauta’s attorney) got into a heated dispute with prosecutors regarding an August 2022 meeting. Woodard alleged that Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team had pressured him into the meeting, during which Nauta was pressed to cooperate with the DOJ’s investigation. Woodward alleged that Jay Bratt, the prosecutor working for Smith, implied that Woodward’s forthcoming appointment to the Washington D.C. superior court might be waylaid if Nauta declined to cooperate.
Prosecutor David Harbach adamantly denied the allegation. According to a CNN report, Harbach rose from his seat and said that Woodward was proffering a “garbage argument.” He went on to say, while shouting and pounding the prosecution counsel’s table, that Woodward’s story about the meeting was a “fantasy,” denying that such an exchange ever took place.
While Harbach continued his rant, Cannon interrupted to demand an explanation for why the DOJ had not submitted any evidence regarding the 2022 conversation. She demanded that Harbach “calm down” and answer her, lest he be ruled out of order.
The trial, as of now, is still ongoing.
