Trump to be hit by multiple deadlines in big week at court
Now that there a firm court date has been set for Donald Trump's criminal case centered on hush-money payments made to adult movie star Stormy Daniels, the ex-president has all four of his criminal cases moving in earnest — and he has some key deadlines coming up this week.
The first comes on Tuesday, when the "motion for leave to file" is due in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case.
Earlier this month, Trump and his co-defendants demanded documents from the government that they say support a claim of "vindictive prosecution" -- a demand that special counsel Jack Smith said in a recent filing that his team is under no obligation to fulfill.
In particular, Smith's filing alleges that since Trump hasn't even proposed "the argument or factual assertions not presented in an opening motion and raised for the first time in a reply brief are not properly before the Court," then "the Court should not be asked [to] decide matters that have been neither properly raised nor fully briefed."
Regardless, Trump's team on Tuesday must file all of their final motions or documents before the judge rules about the matter.
In Georgia Wednesday, Trump co-defendant Michael Roman will meet with Judge Scott McAfee in his chambers over his allegations of misconduct leveled at the Fulton County District Attorney's office that involve alleged improprieties conducted by D.A. Fani Willis improperly using her position for the benefit of consultant Nathan Wade, who was previously her boyfriend. Both Wade and Willis testified in court about the matter last week.
Wednesday also marks the first day in which the Supreme Court could issue its opinion in the Colorado 14th Amendment case, although legal analysts believe it isn't expected to go the state's way.
As if that weren't enough, Thursday and Friday are even busier.
On Thursday, Feb. 22 all motions asking to exclude any evidence and the rationales behind such exclusions must be submitted for the Stormy Daniels case.
That same day, all pre-trial motions and replies to those motions are due in the Mar-a-Lago case about excluding evidence.
Legal news websites Lawfare and JustSecurity.org both note on their main calendars that each side must file updates on Trump's claim of presidential immunity. The Washington, D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Trump late last week, but they have to file their final paperwork on it amid the appeal to the Supreme Court.
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Friday is also the day that Illinois will go to court over whether they can exclude Trump from the ballot on the 14th Amendment Section 3 law. This attempt was initially thrown out by the state election board; a move Trump cheered.
In the documents case, Friday is also the day that responses are due after special counsel Jack Smith motioned that Judge Cannon reconsider her decision not to redact or seal information about key witnesses in the case. Smith has cited potential dangers that any witnesses face given the waves of threats and harassment Trump opponents regularly face.
The witnesses involved aren't merely staff at Mar-a-Lago who witnessed Trump's efforts to move or hide the documents -- rather, they are also people at the National Archives, people who sat on the grand jury, and FBI agents who gave statements.
"That discovery material, if publicly docketed in unredacted form as the Court has ordered, would disclose the identities of numerous potential witnesses, along with the substance of the statements they made to the FBI or the grand jury, exposing them to significant and immediate risks of threats, intimidation, and harassment,” Smith's 22-page filing reads.
If Smith loses, he's expected to appeal to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.