This judge wants answers from special counsel Jack Smith- Sol Wisenberg
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00:00 Joining us now, former deputy, deputy independent counsel and former assistant U.S. attorney
00:04 Saul Weisenberg.
00:05 All right, Saul, well, late tonight, Trump's attorneys filed a response in that D.C. case
00:10 that reads in part, "The government seeks to restrict First Amendment rights.
00:15 Worse, it does so against this administration's primary political opponent during an election
00:20 season in which the administration, prominent party members and media allies have campaigned
00:24 on the indictment and proliferated its false allegations."
00:30 Your response tonight to that?
00:32 I haven't seen that filing yet, but I think that former President Trump's attorneys are
00:39 going to have a lot more success and get a lot fairer hearing from the federal court
00:44 in the Southern District of Florida than they've gotten so far in D.C.
00:49 Well, Saul, the issue about President Trump not being able to respond in social media,
00:57 for instance—and you know, his comments on social media can be over the top.
01:01 You know, "I'm coming for you."
01:04 On that particular issue, what's your take?
01:07 Because there are civil libertarians out there who say, "Well, that's restricting First
01:10 Amendment speech," and that are others are saying, "Well, that could be a comment about
01:16 other potential witnesses," or he could be sending a signal that would be tampering with
01:20 the proceeding.
01:21 What's your take?
01:22 Well, there is an inherent conflict between the kind of gag orders and restrictions on
01:30 the speech of defendants and defense attorneys and the normal First Amendment rights that
01:36 we have.
01:37 And unfortunately, the case law set by the Supreme Court is unclear on this.
01:43 They decide it on a case-by-case basis.
01:45 And most districts have a rule that says you can't make a statement, a defendant—no
01:51 party can make a statement that might impact the administration of justice.
01:55 And that's very—that's very loosey-goosey.
01:57 And he's going to have to be careful about what he says on social media.
02:03 And we're likely to see some kind of a ruling very soon from Judge Chutkin in D.C.
02:11 And so, stand by, because she accelerated the response time.
02:15 You know, normally, Trump's attorneys would have had a lot more time, and they didn't
02:19 have it here.
02:20 Well, Saul, Judge Chutkin vs. Judge Cannon, those are two different, you know, perspectives
02:27 on federal law, clearly.
02:30 And we're going to see—we're going to get a lesson in, you know, different approaches
02:34 to judicial interpretation, are we not?
02:37 Absolutely, it looks that way, and expect Judge Cannon to be—continue to be attacked
02:44 by some of the people you showed earlier today.
02:46 They're already talking about, "Oh, we're going to have to move to recuse her."
02:51 But really, these federal prosecutors, in most cases, including most high-profile political
02:57 cases, are used to getting whatever they want from federal judges, because of the way the
03:00 federal system is heavily slanted in favor of the prosecution.
03:04 And this judge in the Southern District of Florida, Judge Cannon, is saying, "Wait
03:09 a minute.
03:10 Explain yourself.
03:11 You don't automatically get to put things under seal.
03:13 You haven't made a strong enough showing."
03:16 And so, she's also said, "Wait a minute.
03:18 I want an explanation for why you're using the D.C. grand jury for post-indictment matters
03:26 in Florida."
03:27 So there are two things that she's interested in here.
03:31 Number one, you brought this case in the Southern District of Florida.
03:36 Why are you using the D.C. grand jury related to that case?
03:40 Number two, once you indict a case, the law says you're not allowed to use the grand jury—use
03:48 a grand jury to gather evidence for trial.
03:51 Now, there's a major exception to that.
03:53 That exception is if the prosecutor says, "Well, wait, we're looking at further crimes.
03:58 We might file a superseding indictment."
04:00 But Judge Cannon is saying, "I want a public explanation.
04:04 If it's okay—if you say it's okay to use the D.C. grand jury to gather evidence—"
04:10 Tell us why.
04:11 "—tell us why on the record."
04:13 In a way, they're very different cases, but in a way, it's like the judge did in the Hunter
04:20 Biden case in Delaware, saying, "Wait a minute.
04:23 I want this clear on the record."
04:25 So she might end up letting Jack Smith do what he wants to do, but she's going to make
04:30 him articulate the reason why.
04:32 It's interesting that in these political cases, citizens learn about stuff that regular—I've
04:37 been doing federal white-collar criminal defense for 23 years—stuff that regular defendants
04:42 have to put up with all the time, and citizens now see how the system really works and how
04:47 it's slanted against defendants.
04:49 All right, Sol, thank you so much.
04:50 Great to see you tonight.
04:51 Hey, Sean Hannity here.
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