https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IosHp7M707M
Transcript:
Donald Trump and his stoogge judge Eileen Cannon are being called out before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals for trying to destroy volume two of special counsel Jack Smith's report in connection with his criminal prosecutions of Donald Trump
One of course involved Trump's conduct relating to the January 6th insurrection.
That's volume one
Volume two relates to Donald Trump taking highly classified and uh sensitive information like potentially nuclear secrets and hiding it at Mara Lago and then obstructing justice
That was the criminal case before Judge Eileen Cannon
You'll recall that she dismissed the case on some frivolous basis saying that the special counsel is unconstitutional.
She was the only judge to ever make that type of ruling
And then after Trump won the election, the appeals in that matter were essentially mooded
But the only issue remaining before Judge Cannon that has been remaining is because all of the files and documents regarding the Mara Lago document case were before her
She just needs to basically issue a release of the documents, specifically special counsel Jack Smith's report volume two, which lays out the special counsel's findings regarding the crimes that Donald Trump was being prosecuted for.
But you see, what Judge Cannon did for over a year was do nothing
Uh after Donald Trump won the election, she refused to make any rulings at all, especially while the DOJ switched over from the Biden DOJ to the Trump DOJ
She took no action
And because she took so long to do anything where she was supposed to make some ruling one way or another regarding the uh report prepared by special counsel Jack Smith, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals had to actually intervene.
That's the circuit court that oversees the Southern District of Florida court
Uh Canon's in the Fort Pierce division
And they said, "Cannon, you've got to make a ruling one way or another regarding this report so it can come back to us and we can decide what happens with the report." In any circumstance, this report should be released.
This isn't a controversial topic
You know, special counsel reports are released
If there's highly classified information in the report that gets redacted when we know all about redactions right now, but then that should be released to the uh public
And so after the 11th Circuit made that ruling, Judge Eileen Cannon set an elongated briefing schedule to try to delay even more and push this into like January and February of 2026.
And then so what happened was Donald Trump in his private capacity said these documents that that from come from Jacksmith they should be destroyed
And then Walt Na the other defender remember Na was involved in that one
He said not only should the documents be suppressed they need Jacksmith's report and all of the documents they need to be burned.
They need to be incinerated
I kid you not
They said destroy order that it be destroyed
And then the Department of Justice, which is supposed to be justice, is the one supposed to say, you know what, these documents by law are required to be released with proper redactions
But here, because the DOJ, as you now know, has no credibility at all, and it's just an arm of Trump's fascism, they basically said, "We agree.
We basically join." Right
The DOJ is supposed to be on one side of the V and the criminal dependent on the other
They're like, "No, no, we agree
Do whatever you want, judge
We're not opposing what Trump and NA want
Destroy
It's fine
So then this group called the Night First Amendment Institute.
They're a group at Columbia University
They then tried to intervene representing the public before Judge Eileen Cannon
and they did a petition saying, "Look, judge, if you're going to adjudicate this and you rule in favor of Trump and the DOJ to destroy this, there hasn't been any opposition because Trump and the DOJ are now both the bad guys.
So there needs to be some op just stay the destruction of the documents in the report
So at least the 11th circuit court of appeals can weigh in because even though the 11th circuit tends to skew more conservative, more rightle leaning, nobody would say destroy these records
But what happens if the district court orders the immediate burning and destruction
The DOJ has it.
So imagine you have canon issue cannon issues an order and immediately the DOJ is ready to hit delete they destroy it and then when the 11th circuit finally says actually we want to intervene here then the DOJ says ah it's moot we just followed the judge's order and we hit destroy right away so this is an extraordinary petition you know where as a law professor this intrigues me you know and as someone who cares about our country and transparency
It's critical.
But you don't see things like this ever filed
So when I'm looking at it, I'm like, "Oh, this is an interesting argument." Because this never had to be done
Normally the DOJ would be the one saying, "Release it
Of course, release it
That's what the law requires you to do." So here, this group at they do great work, the First Amendment Institute at Columbia University.
They've said, "Look, we reached out to Judge Cannon
She's ignoring our petition to intervene
So we haven't got a ruling there
She's doing the cannon and we're really worried that what's about to happen 11 Circuit is she's going to make this order, destroy the records, destroy the documents
And so we we want to put this on your radar.
And I think what they want to do via this mandamus process which again is extraordinary and there's like not a lot of precedent for even doing something like this
But I think what they want to at least put on the 11 circuits radar is for them even suanti meaning on their own initiative take the extraordinary relief and just say something like even though you may not have standing right now hey judge cannon don't destroy no we it's it's our understanding that any destruction would be illegal like get the 11 circuit to do something here put
it on their radar and hope they say something because it's a tough argument to appeal something where your petition has not been ruled on yet because what's the basis of of of appellet jurisdiction when the underlying judge hasn't hasn't yet ruled
But here they're saying Judge Cannon's doing this intentionally as part of a scheme with Trump and that's why you were involved before 11th Circuit
Do something
Do something.
Harry, this is quite extraordinary
Let's call in Harry Litman from the Talking Feds YouTube channel, Talking Feds podcast, and Talking Feds Substack
Right, Harry
This is, you know, an extraordinary thing and I think it's the right move
I think we can debate whether they have standing to make this appeal.
Um, and that's a but the 11 circuit, hello 11 circuit, you got to do something here
Look, the whole thing is a farce and it's part of the farces that they mount every day because as you say, the the V point that you raised, Ben, is the big one
The whole this is constitutional
You have to have the whole way that our uh judicial system works is adversaries uh go on either side of an argument and make it concrete and make it precise and do their best so a court can rule.
This is just like the Trump supposed lawsuit for 230 million or 40 billion
Why not
Because of the prosecutions he had before
Just like the Steve Bannon complete uh complete whitewash where they're getting rid of that case
What is presented to a court as DOJ or United States v canon blank is not that at all
They are colluding.
They're both saying the same thing
And the point you're making would be the same on appeal if she actually You're totally right and I'll come back to it in a moment
But she sits on her douff for over a year with no justification at all
But if and when she actually rules for now and Trump whom she has permitted to intervene even if she hasn't done that for the night institute then what they get it wrong there's nobody who will file the notice of appeal to the 11th circuit.
So we can talk in very intricate legal terms about whether as you say the extraordinary um recourse to a rid of mandamus is the right way to go and will there be standing or not but I think the 11th circuit is quite aware of what's going on
One of the things that make this interesting when she was really not just botching it, throwing the case in every which way, there was a lot of pretty good behind the scenes sort of um reporting that the 11th circuit found her to be an embarrassment.
We know the chief judge of her district found her to be told her don't take don't take this Mara Lago case and she did it anyway because she is she's in on the game
She's the uh her the only thing she thinks about is Donald Trump and what that could avail her and God knows uh that's you know everybody else in within the judicial system for her lifetime will now I think h has permanently lost um respect for her.
But now back to what she did
She just lets it go for a year
And at that point when she's forced to say something, she said, "Okay, now I'll consider what to do." And she invites Trump to intervene, which he does
And remember what we are talking about first
The strongest, everybody agrees
This is a case that was pretty much open and shut against uh Trump, not only for just prolining all the documents, but the obstruction case was overwhelming and uh the you know they had it on video and he you know he so plainly uh violated both obstruction rules and
rules about prloining of national security documents which remember what his defense was basically
I can do whatever I want
I can declassify magically in my head while sleeping or I can just um you know nobody's permitted
He was going to lose that case
Now it all goes away
But what is left
What is left for the democracy to try to reckon with what happened and try to prevent things in the future
Some kind of historical accounting.
I mean it is on the one hand vital for us to understand and on the other now that NATA and de Ola's cases have been dismissed and they are final what's on their side that they should say um smother this and shredded from the from the view of history forever basically nothing they're not you know there's no whatever is going to come out in Smith's report well for one will be truthful but for two the the national interest is so much stronger here.
But a judge who thinks I'm here to do one thing only and that is um follow Donald Trump's interest could exactly as you say now that there's a collusive case basically where DOJ and uh NA dea and Trump as intervenor are all on the same side
She's got in her hands the ability to issue an order that then doesn't get contested
So the 11th Circuit could be kind of hard asses about this and could say here are the narrow circumstances in which the rid of mandamus can be satisfied.
But I think they are on to canon, long since onto canon
and the public consequences that really go way beyond this case, but to the actual ability for the democracy to have an honest accounting of a whole uh part of the two cases against him
Remember when Smith testifies, uh the DOJ says, "You can't talk about this other one, but we won't tell you what you can't say.
" you know, it's it's an outrage sort of, you know, two or three times over the initial one because of the injustice of of dismissing it, but now not even the pale second uh uh ability to to have a historical account of what occurred
That's again, that's like Orwellian totalitarian stuff
and she's just the person to uh try to make that happen.
So, Lemon Circa, we should we should follow it closely
Even if it's not completely kosher, uh they may find a way and I think at least they can issue some kind of statement saying Eileen Canon, don't just do this until we say it's okay
And even that would be a big deal cuz exactly as you say, they're perfectly capable of colluding.
And so ordered and now it's all deleted
Sorry judge
Sorry country
Sorry history
That that's what they could be going at without some grownup judicial supervision
Right
I mean Harry, while they go on Fox, which I call state regime media, and say the report would vindicate us, it's all a lie
And here's the truth.
You know, that to me is the biggest tell
And it's like, duh
But when I when I try to tell people, I don't care if you're Democrat, Republican, independent, whatever
It's the same thing kind of with the Epstein files
It's like, why are there these redactions
Why are they hiding it
Why are they going through this process
Set aside your political views.
Who wants to get the information out
Who wants to hide the information
And then it's the same thing over here
They're willing to go on Fox
So, if you're willing to go on Fox, then guess what
release the report
If you think that there are defects in it, go and legally defend it and you can go through it line by line and you can say, "Look, Jack Smith got it wrong here or Jack Smith got it right here.
" That's just what we do in our system
That's the way I studied in law school
You studied in law school, not because I wanted to go on and be a great Democrat or an independent because that's what we do
We read documents and we get information
And this is why this this is why this is why I made this my life's mission to expose this stuff because this is crap.
It's just not just crap. >> And power to you, Ben, that you have and you know the mightest mighty unbelievable army of fighting every day
But it's it's even bigger than that
Yes, you do documents
Yes, you made arguments
This is the stuff of history
It's a concerted effort literally to whitewash the history books as you have in totalitarian regimes that just present false accounts state sanction that is so kind of down the middle or a cornerstone of what it means to live in a democracy.
Why we have a first amendment
If just as you say, you've got something to actually counter
Well, take it to the court of history, which is the only court again because of the uh happen stance of the election
Uh the only court that this is going to be adjudicated in
But man, the difference between that court and nothing whatsoever, that's just the difference between a, you know, hanging on by its fingernails democracy and a totalitarian regime.
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Harry, always great to see you. >> Oh, yeah
Thanks, Ben
See you
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