By BRUCE LOWITT
After prosecutors and defense lawyers submitted their responses to her request for proposed jury instructions, Judge Aileen Cannon added several additional hypothetical questions Wednesday in Donald Trump’s classified documents trial, including how much jurors would be willing to donate to the former president’s legal defense fund or pay toward the $454-million he owes for losing a civil suit in New York.
Cannon, the remarkably unqualified and biased Trump appointee to the U.S. District Court bench and presumptive successor to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas if Trump is elected president, said she would recommend “ten percent of each juror’s income, the same as I tithe to my church, the Federalist Society.”
Cannon also proposed that the jurors be asked during voir dire, “Do you believe that a public official who promotes an insurrection deserves a do-over?” And, “What would each of you do with so-called classified documents if, say, a former president told you how much they were worth on the open market?” Also, “How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?”
Last Thursday Cannon asked Trump’s and prosecutor Jack Smith’s lawyers to consider two prospective ideas: whether the jury could review a former president’s possession of a record and decide whether it is personal or presidential, and whether a president has sole authority under the Presidential Records Act to decide whether records are personal or presidential during his or her presidency.
Smith, reading from the U.S. Constitution, said, “Article II specifically says, and I quote, that … hold on … here it is … that ‘granting such powers over the Presidential Records Act to the Federal Government’s Executive Branch would result in a fucking shit show.’ Thank you, your honor.”
Todd Blanche, one of the former president’s defense attorneys, then told the court, “Mr. Trump has asked me to read this response: ‘Bloodbath. Witch hunt. Election fraud. Crooked Hilary.’ Wait, scratch that. ‘Sleepy Joe. Fake news. Fuck the Constitution. Dictator. Bloodbath.’
“Yes, your honor, he wrote Bloodbath twice. All caps and underlined the second time. Thank you, your honor. … No, that was me. He’d never thank anyone. … Well, maybe you – depending on the outcome of this trial.”
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