An Errant ‘Cannon’ Shot: A Guest Op-Ed By Martin Sheil
Retired IRS criminal investigator Martin Sheil is looking forward to Aileen Cannon’s smackdown by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals
***Please take out a membership to support the light of truth.***
‘Cannon’ Fodder: A Guest Op-Ed By Martin Sheil
It seems Aileen Cannon - the Florida Federal District Court Judge tasked with judging citizen Trump's alleged mishandling of classified documents purloined from the White House and stashed in rest rooms, showers and a stage in the Trumpster's Mar-a-Lago luxury club environs - has finally issued a ruling after a lengthy delay and a multitude of motions filed - dismissing Special Counsel Jack Smith and therefore the entire Documents case. Claiming that after careful study “no legal statute grants an attorney general authority to appoint a federal officer with the kind of prosecutorial power wielded by Special Counsel Smith.”
Cannon has slow walked her motion rulings on the Document case from the get go and while the Trump team may rejoice in the short term.
It is this writer's opinion that she missed her mark and may well have shot herself in the foot in doing so.
While Trump acolytes are now referring to Cannon as "Justice" Cannon - an honorary appellation reserved for SCOTUS justices a likely future quid quo pro fulfilled to some - this ruling will be appealed tout de suite as the French would say and the first stop will be the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals which has already slapped down an earlier Cannon ruling in embarrassing fashion to Cannon.
This particular errant Cannon shot opens up the possibility that the 11th Circuit will not only overrule Cannon's Special Counsel dismissal but in a legal irony for the ages - may well find Cannon's legal reasoning so amateurish as to justify removal of Cannon from her position presiding over the Trump Docs case and be replaced by a more seasoned jurist who can supervise a sensitive criminal indictment of a former president in a more professional fashion reflecting a less partisan and suspect ethical perspective.
Should Cannon's analysis be correct then it brings into question the legal basis for then President Trump, directing then Attorney General Bill Barr, to appoint John Durham as Special Counsel to spend four long years investigating the origins and potential misconduct of the FBI's Trump/Russia probe.
If Cannon's "careful study" of the Special Counsel's appointment in the Docs case is on point should not the Hunter Biden legal actions all be dismissed since AG Merrick Garland appointed the Special Counsel investigating Biden using the same authority/protocol as that which led to Jack Smith's appointment?
With regard to the ethical perspective - Ms. Cannon cited the ethically challenged SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas's Presidential Immunity opinion several times in her ruling with the money sentence being - “If this unprecedented prosecution is to proceed, it must be conducted by someone duly authorized to do so by the American people. The lower courts should thus answer these essential questions concerning the Special Counsel’s appointment before proceeding,”
Recall SCOTUS granted President's unlimited immunity with regard to official acts while President. When Trump absconded the WH while no longer President, with classified docs many of which were labeled Top Secret - he stashed them in insecure locations within Mar-a-Lago - a private club open to the public located in South Florida where Citizen Trump resided while whining about the unfairness of all the investigations focused on him.
Clarence Thomas had no business including his potshot at the legality of the Special Counsel appointment in an official opinion with regard to the limits if any of Presidential Immunity.
Clarence Thomas had no business even sitting in on the Presidential Immunity case given his wife's heavy involvement in January 6 activities as documented by the J6 Congressional Committee.
Yet, in his arrogance he did so, refusing to recuse despite pleas from Congress to do so.
Clarence Thomas failed to disclose multiple luxury vacations supplied by wealthy businessmen benefactors that included Yacht trips to the South seas, procurement of an RV with the help of a Health industry executive friend, tuition payments to a private school for his nephew and y'all know the nauseating rest of the story.
Justice Thomas failed the ethical standards test laid out by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. More than that he likely falsified multiple Disclosure statements signed under jurat which makes the Hunter Biden false statement case look like a piker in contrast.
Yet, Aileen Cannon relies on the legal reasoning of Clarence Thomas to make her case to dismiss Special Counsel Jack Smith and therefore the Trump docs case.
Give me a break.
The appointment of Special Counsels have been challenged going all the way back to Nixon and have survived every quest. But the transparently judicial aspiring MAGA political suck up Aileen Cannon, leaning on the ethically challenged Clarence Thomas - knows best…
If this was a show on ESPN multiple commentators would be screaming:
Oh C'mon Now!!!!!
Let us all look forward to the 11th Circuit, which is the first stop for Jack Smith's appeal and let us all hope they do the right thing which of course will lead to an appeal before SCOTUS.
Oh C'mon now.
Chief Justice Roberts when testifying before Congress before being voted onto SCOTUS compared Judges with baseball umpires who are tasked with calling balls and strikes.
It appears Aileen Cannon isn't just calling balls and strikes but is taking a few swings herself. In dismissing Special Counsel Jack Smith from the Trump Docs case, Cannon appears to have taken a mighty Judicial swing and MISSED!
When this case gets to SCOTUS, and you just know one way or the other it will - Does the most famous RV owner in the world Clarence Thomas recuse?
Does Upside Down Flag Alito?
Will their wives let them?
You just know that emasculated umpire Roberts won't make them.
Oh C'MON NOW!
Marty Sheil
PS Hey ESPN if you have an opening - I am available...
****
Related:
****
Martin Sheil, a retired IRS criminal investigator, writes about money laundering, Russian and US oligarchs, and judicial malfeasance for Bette Dangerous. Photo courtesy Dylan Sheil.
****
****
Bette Dangerous is a reader-funded magazine. Thank you to all monthly, annual, and founding members. Thank you to everyone helping subsidize my excellent summer “workation” by doing the following:
Share my reporting with allies
Buying my ebooks — here’s a promo code: Birthday-Special
A private link to an annual membership discount for older adults, those on fixed incomes or drawing disability, as well as activists and members of the media is available upon request at bettedangerous/gmail. 🥹
More info about Bette Dangerous - This magazine is written by Heidi Siegmund Cuda, an Emmy-award winning investigative reporter/producer, author, and veteran music and nightlife columnist. She is the cohost of RADICALIZED Truth Survives, an investigative show about disinformation and is part of the Byline Media team. Thank you for your support of independent investigative journalism.
🤍
Begin each day with a grateful heart.
🤍
We could really use a live Radpod or Bette Dangerous Zoomers =]
Great op-ed by Marty and my inner child finds the photo "edits" perversely satisfying!