Judge’s Jury Instructions Hold Door Wide Open to Trump Win in Classified Documents Case
Published on March 19, 2024
The judge in former president Donald Trump’s classified documents case has ordered the preparation of jury instructions in a way that holds the door wide open to a potential dismissal of the case, on the premise that President Trump designated the documents he kept at his Mar-a-Lago home as “personal records.” U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon issued an order on March 18 requiring President Trump’s attorneys and special counsel Jack Smith’s team each to prepare and file their respective preliminary jury instructions along with proposed verdict forms by April 2. Judge Cannon ordered the jury instructions to include proposed language that relates to the issue of “unauthorized possession” of the documents (pdf)....