A high-ranking prosecutor who has taken on some of the country’s biggest political corruption cases dramatically apologized to Trump-appointed judge Aileen Cannon as Jack Smith’s team fought over a proposed gag order.
David Harbach, who led the cases against former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards and former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, issued the shocking statement inside Cannon’s courtroom on Monday, in a case in which Trump’s critics They complain that she has repeatedly ruled against the government.
“I just want to apologize for earlier,” Harbach said after a contentious exchange in the courtroom. “I didn’t mean to be unprofessional. I’m sorry about that.”
It came after he appeared to bristle at questions from Cannon, a U.S. district judge in Florida, in response to her questions about prosecutors’ allegations of threats to law enforcement personnel and Trump’s language about the FBI. which fueled the government’s request to modify its terms. of liberation.
‘I don’t appreciate your tone,’ judge broken at a point. The judge told him that she would “appreciate decorum at all times” and then warned him: “If you are unable to do so, I am sure one of her colleagues can continue to argue this motion.”
The Harvard Law-trained prosecutor once worked for former FBI Director James Comey, a longtime Trump target.
The clash came as Cannon on Monday heard more challenges to special counsel Jack Smith’s authority, this time asking if there were any limits on the congressional funding that supports his office.
The Trump-appointed judge made the comment at a hearing in her court in Fort Pierce, Florida, as Trump’s lawyer argued that Smith’s funding is contrary to rules governing congressional appropriations.
It is one of the many challenges that Trump’s team has presented to the prosecutor leading the classified documents case against him. (Smith is also leading the Washington, D.C.-based Jan. 6 case, which is on hold while the Supreme Court considers Trump’s immunity claims.)
The judge’s comment came at a hearing in which Trump attorney Emil Bove argued that Smith’s funding has gone against the laws governing funding from the beginning.
Judge Aileen Cannon grilled prosecutors and Donald Trump’s lawyers about Trump’s effort to oust special counsel Jack Smith from the classified documents case.
‘Is there any limit to funding?’ Cannon asked.
“There is no control over the extent of what is happening here,” Bove responded.
He also described as “significant” the amounts the Justice Department spent on special counsel.
Speaking on behalf of Smith’s office, Deputy Special Counsel James Pearce said it is “the full commitment of the Department of Justice” that the special counsel’s office has the funds to pursue the prosecution.
Cannon asked Pearce to clarify if the budget for the case so far was 9 million dollars.
“But when it’s unlimited, there’s a concern about the separation of powers,” Cannon said.
Pearce said the Justice Department had $1 billion at its disposal even if the current funding stream was changed.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys returned to court after facing off in Cannon’s courtroom on Friday, where she grilled defense attorneys and asked them to explain a “sinister” argument after they challenged Smith’s appointment.
Bove said the law was being applied in a way that gave Attorney General Merrick Garland “the power to appoint a shadow government.”
Cannon’s willingness to give Trump’s lawyers time to argue their motions in open court, while also listening to amicus requests from outside parties, has drawn outside criticism that he is allowing Trump’s team to stall the case.
The government has allowed the use of special prosecutors in one form or another for more than a hundred years, and Hunter Biden’s defense attorneys failed in a similar effort against special counsel David Weiss’s use of the authority.
Critics accuse Cannon of repeatedly ruling in Trump’s favor and issuing rulings that show inexperience in a complex classified documents case.
Trump’s team argued that the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith was unconstitutional. On Monday they argued that his funding violated appropriations statutes.
David Aronberg, the Palm Beach County state’s attorney and a Democrat, called it “mind-blowing.”
Cannon postponed his May trial date and has not scheduled a new one, increasing the likelihood that Trump will not face a trial in his classified documents case before the November election.
He will also hear arguments in his courtroom Monday on Smith’s renewed request for a gag order after Trump accused FBI agents of plotting to assassinate him based on a repetitive passage in a document listing preparations for a search. at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump has called gags unconstitutional in his speech in other cases. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan imposed a strict gag order in the D.C. case, and New York Judge Jude Juan Merchan imposed one in the Stormy Daniels hush money trial.