The Staggering Success of Trump’s Trial Delay Tactics

from New York Times I'm Michael babbaro. this is the. [Music]. daily today for Donald Trump 2024 was. supposed to be dominated by criminal. trials instead he's found ways to delay. almost all of them my colleag Alan foyer. on how Trump did. it.

[Music]. it's Thursday April. [Music]. 11th so Alan we are on the cusp of the. very first criminal trial of former. president Donald Trump which begins next. week so all eyes are going to be on. Lower Manhattan yeah and you'll. definitely remember this case Michael. it's often short short-handed as the.

hush money case it involves allegations. that Trump used illegal accounting. techniques to hide the fact that he had. paid off a porn star prosecutors say he. wanted to cover up a sexual Affair that. they had had so that the Scandal didn't. blow up Trump's. 2016 presidential campaign right you. know that case which has always been a. weird mix of like tabloid and election. interference stuff it's sometimes.

written off as the run of the various. cases Trump is facing even though that's. not quite true nonetheless it is the. exception in one important way it is. actually going to go in front of a jury. before the election takes place before. voters go to the polls let's not forget. Trump is facing. four criminal cases in four separate. cities and in three of them he legal.

team have managed in various ways to. throw sand into the gears of these. proceedings to essentially grind them. down to all but a halt right it appears. that Trump has found a way to push back. basically 75% of the criminal cases. brought against him until it looks like. for now after voters are going to decide. whether or not to reelect him which if. it stays that way would be a pretty. astonishing accomplishment of a kind in.

I'd argue both a legal and a political. sense yeah it would be a remarkable. subversion of the normal course of. justice and look for that reason alone. it makes sense that like studying some. of the tactics that Trump's lawyers have. used in each of these cases right filing. motion after motion after motion after. motion many of which are filled with. far-fetched or even frivolous claims and. one of the places where we we've seen.

this in like the starkest terms is in. Trump's classified documents case in. Florida this is the case in which Trump. has been charged with taking home from. the White House a trove of extremely. classified documents containing all. kinds of National Defense secrets about. military capabilities nuclear programs. right and ing them in Crazy places in.

his home at maral Lago down in West Palm. Beach Florida right I'm remembering the. photos I mean stages bathrooms closets. yes and on top of that the government. has accused him of obstructing this long. attempt this repeated attempts by the. authorities to get that stuff back in. some sense this case is the strongest. criminal case that has been brought. against Trump the facts are at least. alleged by the government are pretty.

damning not to mention he's caught on a. recording at one point showing some of. this material to other people at Mara. Lago and saying to them hey I shouldn't. be showing you this stuff because it's. classified right a prosecutor's dream. yeah yeah in many ways so and if this. seemed like perhaps the strongest of the. four criminal cases against Trump what. exactly is the story of how he and his. lawyers have delayed it to the point. where it does not appear that there will.

be a trial before November before the. election well look in short Trump's. lawyers have raised a series of. far-fetched defenses and the judge in. this case has really engaged with these. defenses and. entertained these arguments in a way. that frankly I don't think most federal. judges would have so tell us about both. Trump's tactics and about this judge we.

can do both at the same time Michael so. let's not forget that the first big. public event of this case was a search. of maral Lago Trump's private club and. residence in West Palm Beach in Florida. and the consequences of that search fall. into the hands of a very unusual judge. who catches this case her name is Aileen. Cannon she was appointed by Trump. himself in Trump's waning days in office.

and she is a young judge and checks all. the boxes Federalist society and clerked. for a conservative judge herself but. while she may have had all the right. kinds of experience she just didn't have. a lot of experience so at the moment. that she inherits this case in August of. 2022 she's only been on the bench two. years she's had a some total of 14 Trial.

days over the course of four trials. she's only had four trials wow and so. she is the person who kind of inherits. this. enormous case involving at that point an. FBI search of a former president's. residence and really right from the. beginning Trump's lawyers just throw. everything they can at this search. warrant issue trying to bog the entire. investigation down you know and they end.

up challenging the search in a really. weird way they say because Trump is a. former president he has executive. privilege over all the material that the. FBI took out of Mara Lago and so the. lawyers want judge Canon not only to. appoint an independent Arbiter to sort. through all that material and sort of. take out the innocuous stuff from the. stuff that's highly privileged they want.

the judge to essentially interfere in. this case to the point of freezing the. FBI's. investigation entirely wow until this. independent arbiter's work is done so. that's a very ambitious request Trump's. lawyers want a major FBI investigation. into a former president very. high-profile to just go on Ice while. some legal figure sorts through paper to. see if something's in there that.

shouldn't be yes exactly and lo and. behold judge Cannon grants this request. she freezes the case but the appellant. court that sits over judge Canon the. 11th circuit very quickly and very. forcefully smacks her down and reverses. her and essentially says look you have. violated the principle of the rule of. law you can't just make an exception in. this case because the guy happens to be. a former president that's not how usw.

works but in the metime there has been a. delay a delay of several weeks in a case. where every day every week counts yes. that's exactly right so this was like. the Prelude to the main event so to. speak this is before the indictment. against Trump was filed but we've seen. very much the same Dynamic play out.

through the totality of the case once. the indictment was formally brought. we'll describe how these tactics play. out once there is an actual indictment. against Trump for taking these documents. sure so you know within months of the. indictment being filed Trump's lawyers. start submitting just a barrage of. motions to judge Candon in this case. they make a really out there motion to. kind of rumage through the communic.

of all these various National Security. officials because they want to prove. that the Deep state collaborated in. order to bring this case against. trumping they're filing motions saying. like oh other politicians and public. figures have found classified documents. you know in their possession but they. were never charged and Trump is being. singled out unfairly as the only guy. who's been charged in this case so. they're they're burying judge canon in. paper they are burying her in paper. and things are really just sort of.

piling up on her desk in a way that at. least from the outside looks like she's. really struggling to prioritize. decisions and she's leaving this Log Jam. of unresolved issues that just keeps. growing and growing and one of the. ultimate consequences of all of this is. that she can't set a trial date yet. because she hasn't made all of these. subsidiary decisions so the Log Jam. itself. makes the delay problem even worse and.

of course none of this seems all that. surprising because as you have said she. is a brand new judge she's never before. handled a case on this scale sure and. it's very clear that Trump's lawyers are. leveraging both her inexperience and. some sort of Prior indication by her. that she is willing to entertain. unorthodox arguments and so one of the. most unorthodox arguments that they make.

in a motion to judge Canon is one to. dismiss the case. altogether because of a law known as the. presidential records act okay and here. you're going to have to educate us yeah. so the quick gloss on the presidential. records Act is that it was passed after. Watergate to essentially ensure that. most records created during a. president's time in office remain in the. possession of the government they go to. the National Archives and while the law.

does sort of permit presidents to lay. personal claim to things like Diaries. they kept while in office or notes or. stuff of an obvious personal nature the. point is that the people through the. government and the archives own the. official records of a presidency that. seems like it would be a law that would. be very bad for Trump in this case right. except he has flipped this law entirely. on its head in his defense he argued in. a motion that was filed at the end of. febru AR that under the small section of.

the law that allows presidents to. designate records as personal he has. designated all of this super secret. highly classified military and defense. records as personal and his own property. huh and to make matters even a little. stranger he's not saying that he issued. a proclamation or wrote a formal uh. notification that he did this he's. saying the fact that he took these.

records out of the White House to his. home in Florida de facto shows you that. they are his because if they weren't his. he would have given them back he's. basically saying these classified. government records including nuclear. plans and War plans they're my private. records because I took them which sounds. a little bit like they're my private. personal records because I say they are.

right exactly and so how does Judge. Canon respond to this Innovative. unexpected unorthodox motion well look. the fact is that most federal judges. when presented with this claim would. have dismissed it out of hand would not. have held a hearing would not have. entertained it would have said Thank you. Mr Trump for your argument motion denied. but judge Canon decides to take it quite.

seriously and that has the effect not. just of further delaying the process as. she decides how to Grapple with this. argument but also it sets up the. possibility that she could kill this. case altogether without it ever going in. front of a. [Music]. jury.

we'll be right. back Al at this point in our story this. case of trump and the missing classified. documents is delayed and delayed and now. judge Cannon is engaging with this very. unusual argument that Trump can almost. wordlessly authorize himself to take. classified materials home from the white. house I have to imagine that Federal.

prosecutors are trying to fight this in. every way imaginable yes they hate this. claim and they are absolutely fighting. it every which way they can let's not. forget the person in charge of the. prosecution at this point is the special. counsel Jack Smith who was brought into. the case really when Trump announced he. was running for president so there was. sort of you know some independence from. the justice department right and so what. Smith does when confronted with this. argument Advanced by Trump is of course.

you know he files a motion trying to. oppose Trump's motion to dismiss and. then there's a hearing and at the. hearing you know his prosecutors are. telling judge Canon this is not what the. presidential records act says Trump has. this wrong the idea that he could sort. of like wordlessly transform this. material into his own personal property. is absurd and you should just get rid of. this argument altogether and what's. interesting thing is that for a moment.

there it really looked like Canon was. going to rule against Trump's. presidential records act defense but. then a few days after the hearing she. made an extremely unusual move and what. she did was she asked both sides the. defense and prosecution to write jury. instructions that sort of. adopted Trump's presidential records act. defense. and why would she want this in jury.

instructions especially if she has cast. doubt on it yes well you've hit on. exactly what made this whole thing so. weird and curious just as a basic matter. jury instructions are generally decided. on the eve of a trial so it's weird to. be thinking about how to instruct a jury. when the jury hasn't even been selected. yet there isn't even a solid trial date. for this case at this point. right but the idea that we're working.

with here is simply that jury. instructions are the way that a judge. explains the case to jurors sort of. what's the law here how should it be. interpreted you know I think a familiar. example might be in a murder trial for. instance a judge will explain to the. jury the legal difference between say. manslaughter and homicide sort of. guiding them in how to interpret the law. so that they can decide whether or not a. person has actually broken it mhm the. unusual part in this case is that judge.

Canon has seemed to adopt Trump's own. interpretation of the presidential. records act wow and if she was using. that concept to help you know guide the. jury towards making a decision on guilt. or innocence it was almost like she was. nudging them towards an aquid because if. the stuff is indeed his own personal. property then the jury only has one way.

to decide right right if it really is. his personal property they have to. acquit and so nobody was quite sure. including mind you Jack Smith about what. she was doing because it was so unusual. and unorthodox right and if you're the. prosecutor you might be confused about. what the judge is doing here but you're. definitely not confused about how. dangerous it is to your case and to add. something even more damaging to the case.

once a jury is seated the concept of. Double Jeopardy comes into play right. that's that you can't be tried twice for. the same crime so if the jury acquits. Trump using these jury instructions. based on his own defense it's over. there's no appeal there's nothing Jack. Smith can do about it Case Closed move. on got it so we're kind of back where we. were a few minutes ago which is to say. fed Federal prosecutors really do not.

want judge Canon to in any way endorse. this correct and so what ends up. happening is they file a. Barnstormer of a response to judge. Canon's request for jury instructions. it's the kind of stuff that you never. hear prosecutors say to a federal judge. like what well for example one you've. got this whole thing wrong your idea. that the presidential records act has.

anything to do with this case is totally. legally flawed it's a fiction that Trump. made up out of whole cloth and it. belongs nowhere in this case at all and. so they ask judge Canon to do two things. they say look the normal way to proceed. here is just go back to the motion to. dismiss this case based on the. presidential records act and reject it. out of hand. just tell Trump you can't have this case.

thrown out before it goes to a jury. making this argument and don't put this. stuff into the jury instructions and he. gave her jury instructions that in his. mind would follow the law and had. nothing to do with the presidential. records act so it sounds like this. motion from the federal prosecutors from. Jack Smith has the quality of almost. tutoring judge canon in the ways of the. law in the order in which she should be. doing things basically it's Jack Smith.

saying to judge Kenan you really don't. get this correct but in a not so gentle. way okay so what does Judge Canon do. with this perhaps not so diplomatic. response from the federal prosecutors. she kind of splits the baby on the one. hand she gives Jack Smith a little bit. of what he wants she rejects altogether. Trump's motion to dismiss the case based. on the presidential records act and she. agrees with Jack Smith that like this. notion that Trump declared this stuff.

his own personal property it's not. enough just to kill the case before it. even goes to trial at all got it and yet. and yet in a very prickly way in her. order she tells Jack Smith that she's. going to keep this idea of using the. presidential records act in the jury. instructions open and so she's. essentially allowing the possibility. that there's still this sort of. existential threat hanging over the case.

when it eventually goes into jury. deliberations got it so this particular. delay tactic from Trump and his lawyers. this effort to kind of invert the. meaning of the presidential records act. it's not just a very successful delay. tactic which as we've established it. very much seems it is it now has become. a giant threat to the federal.

government's case and potentially a. strong basis for Trump to Prevail in. this case that seemed very strong and a. case that Trump would have a hard time. willing out of yeah Trump's lawyers. raised this wacky argument in the kind. of normal way you do it in the context. of a motion to dismiss so what's most. unusual setting aside the unusual nature.

of the defense itself is the way judge. Canon said no to the motion to dismiss. and yet allowed this wacky defense. argument to linger in the context of. jury instructions and that was not. something Trump's lawyers asked for that. was wholly of Judge Cannon's devising. she came up with that idea herself. that's what makes this all so strange so. now I'm curious Alan if this classified.

documents prosecution had proceeded down. a traditional normal path without this. very unique interplay of Trump's delay. tactics and what seems like for him the. Lucky Draw of a pretty inexperienced. slow-moving judge willing to entertain a. lot of his unusual arguments when do we. think this trial would have probably. started well judge Canon had initially. said it was going to start at the end of. May but then she very quickly kind of. said that was not going to happen I mean.

she's got like 15 to 20 motions sitting. on her desk that she hasn't decided yet. and you know some of them could wind up. being appealed she could set hearings. right two or three days to argue about. this stuff and so it's just she has let. a mountain of Unfinished Business. complicate the trial schedule so that is. how we arrive at this reality that. Trump's strategy has already basically. succeeded in keeping this case from.

unfolding before election day yeah and. don't forget it's not just in that case. you know two of Trump's other criminal. cases also don't have trial dates yet I. mean you know his case in Washington. involving January 6 and the runup to it. he used a kind of similar wacky motion. to dismiss that he managed to get all. the way up to the Supreme Court and you. know we're waiting for the Supreme Court. to render a decision to see whether or. not that case sneaks in before the.

election or not and then in Georgia. where Trump has been charged also with. election interference he kind of. capitalized on this romantic. relationship that the prosecutor Fanny. Willis had with one of her deputies and. bury the judge with a bunch of motions. claiming that there was a conflict of. interest due to that relationship and. that ate up you know a period of almost. two months so I want to know how you're. thinking about this as someone who has. covered courts and criminal justice for.

so long Trump didn't invent the idea of. seeking to delay the wheels of our. Criminal Justice System corporations. have been doing it for a long time rich. people with fancy lawyers they do this. kind of thing but it does seem that he. has been stunningly successful at it and. I wonder how you think about it well. look one way to think about it is that. the criminal justice system itself just. really isn't set up to handle a.

situation when you have a sophisticated. group of lawyers who really just wake up. and just figure out ways in which to. delay and hinder each of the four cases. that Trump is in that's all they're. doing the entirety of the strategy here. is to file motions of often times you. know limited legal value just to kind of. gum things up and if these lawyers are. able to kind of present a unified.

strategy in each of the cases there's. very little that the prosecution can do. about it except respond in a really. reactive way because they are. essentially having to play Trump's game. at this. point and the way the system is set up. you know our presumption of innocence. sort of permits this kind of gaming of. the system cuz we want crimin defendants. obviously to try everything they can to.

sort of defend themselves but if that. fundamental part of our criminal justice. system is being leveraged perhaps in bad. faith there's really nothing that the. government can do about it except go. through it that's our only choice in all. of. [Music]. this well Allan thank you very much we. appreciate it well thank you.

[Music]. Michael this week Trump undertook. multiple efforts to delay the one. criminal trial scheduled to begin before. the election the hush money case one of. those efforts filed on Wednesday. involved Trump directly suing the judge. overseeing the. trial so far none of the delay tax I. have succeeded and the trial is.

scheduled to begin on. [Music]. Monday we'll be right. back here's what else you need to know. day on Wednesday the government said. that inflation Rose in March potentially. undermining the case for reducing the.

country's High interest rate as many. including President Biden have pushed. for the Consumer Price Index a measure. of prices across the economy Rose. 3.5% in March compared with a year ago a. higher number than economists had. forecast so how concerned are you about. the fight against inflation stalling and. do you stand by your prediction for a. rate cut. well I do stand by my prediction that.

before the year is out to be a rate cut. this may during a news conference at the. White House Biden said he remained. confident that the Federal Reserve would. soon reduce interest rates and he. defended his administration's overall. record on inflation we have dramatically. reduced inflation from 9% down to close. to 3% we're in a situation where we're. better situated than we were when we. took office where we inflation.

Skyrocket today's episode was produced. by Mary Wilson Eric krupky and Diana win. it was edited by MJ Davis Lynn with help. from Rachel quer contains original music. by Rowan IMO and Alicia bitu and was. engineered by Chris Wood our theme music. is by Jim brunberg and Ben lburg of. [Music]. Wonderland. that's it for the daily I'm Michael.

buaro see you. [Music]. tomorrow.