WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal judge presiding over the classified documents case of former President Donald Trump granted his request Thursday for a hearing on whether prosecutors had been permitted to improperly breach attorney-client privilege when they obtained crucial evidence from one of his ex-lawyers.
The order from U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon ensures further delays in a criminal case that has already been snarled by significant postponements, resulting in the indefinite cancelation of trial date that had been set for May 20 in Fort Pierce, Florida. It means that Cannon will revisit a different judge's order from last year that permitted prosecutors to get testimony and other evidence from a Trump attorney that wound up being repeatedly cited in the indictment of the former president.
Trump faces dozens of felony counts accusing him of illegally hoarding classified documents from his presidency at his Mar-a-Lago estate and obstructing the FBI’s efforts to recover them. He has pleaded not guilty.
Defense lawyers are ordinarily shielded from being forced to testify about their confidential conversations with their client but can be compelled to do so if prosecutors can show that their legal services were used in furtherance of a crime — a doctrine known as the crime-fraud exception.
The then-chief federal judge in the District of Columbia, Beryl Howell, agreed last year with special counsel Jack Smith’s team that the exception applied and ordered grand jury testimony from a Trump attorney, M. Evan Corcoran, who represented the former president when the FBI on Aug. 8, 2022, searched Mar-a-Lago for classified documents and seized boxes of classified records.
She also directed Corcoran to turn over audio recordings he made that documented his impressions of conversations he had had with Trump about returning the documents. Those conversations form the basis of key portions of the indictment, including one quote in which Trump proposed not cooperating with the FBI and Justice Department as they sought the return of classified documents that he took with him to Mar-a-Lago after he left the White House.
“Wouldn’t it be better if we just told them we don’t have anything here?" Corcoran quoted him as saying.
In her order Thursday, Cannon said there was “nothing unduly prejudicial or legally erroneous about Defendant Trump’s fact-development request,” even as she sought to deflect the Smith team's concerns that the hearing could be a “mini-trial.”
“There is a difference between a resource-wasting and delay-producing ‘mini-trial,’ on the one hand, and an evidentiary hearing geared to adjudicating the contested factual and legal issues on a given pre-trial motion to suppress, on the other,” she said.
Cannon said it was “the obligation of this Court to make factual findings afresh on the crime-fraud issue.”
The judge also denied a request for a hearing on a separate Trump team claim that the Justice Department had submitted false or misleading information in an application to search Mar-a-Lago. They argued, for instance, that the application should have noted that a senior FBI official proposed seeking the consent of Trump's lawyers for a search rather than obtaining a court-authorized search warrant.
But Cannon sided with Smith team in finding that neither that nor any other of the alleged omissions raised by the defense had any bearing on whether or not prosecutors had sufficient probable cause to search the property. She had signaled that position during a hearing earlier this week.
“Even accepting those statements by the high-level FBI official, the Motion offers an insufficient basis to believe that inclusion in the affidavit of that official’s perspective (or of the dissenting views of other FBI agents as referenced generally in his testimony) would have altered the evidentiary calculus in support of probable cause for the alleged offenses,” Cannon wrote.
Judge in Trump classified docs case grants his request for one hearing but denies bid for another
Judge in Trump classified docs case grants his request for one hearing but denies bid for another
FILE - Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally, June 22, 2024, at Temple University in Philadelphia. The federal judge presiding over Trump's classified documents prosecution is hearing arguments Monday, June 24, on whether to bar him from public comments that prosecutors say could endanger the lives of FBI agents working on the case. Special counsel Jack Smith's team says the restrictions are necessary in light of Trump's false comments that the FBI agents who searched his Mar-a-Lago estate for classified documents were out to kill him and his family. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — Video released late Saturday shows an officer in upstate New York fatally shooting a 13-year-old boy who had been tackled to the ground after he ran from police and pointed a replica handgun at them.
The teen was killed late Friday in Utica after officers in the city about 240 miles (400 kilometers) northwest of Manhattan stopped two youths a little after 10 p.m. in connection with an armed robbery investigation, police said.
The youths, both 13, matched the descriptions of the robbery suspects and were in the same area at around the same time the day after, police said. One was also walking in the road, a violation of state traffic law.
The body camera video released by police captures an officer saying he needs to pat them down to ensure they don't have any weapons in their possession. Immediately one of the two — identified by police as as Nyah Mway — runs away.
Authorities froze frames of the video where a running Nyah Mway appears to point the gun at the pursuing officers. Police also edited the video to insert a red circle around the weapon to show it to viewers.
The officers believed it was a handgun, police said, but it was later determined to be a replica of a Glock 17 Gen 5 handgun with a detachable magazine.
“During a ground struggle” with the teen, one of the officers fired a single shot that struck the boy in the chest, Williams said.
The teen was given “immediate” first aid by the officers and taken to Wynn Hospital, where he died, the chief said.
The replica gun carried by the teen “is in all aspects a realistic appearing firearm with GLOCK markings, signatures, detachable magazine, and serial numbers,” Lt. Michael Curley, a police spokesperson, said via email. “However ultimately it fires only pellets or BB’s.”
A bystander video posted to Facebook shows one of the officers chasing after Nyah Mway and tackling him to the ground. It also shows the officer punching the teen as two other officers arrive. A gunshot rings out as the teen is on the ground and the officers quickly stand up.
The officer who fired his gun was identified as Patrick Husnay, a six-year veteran of the agency. Husnay and Officers Bryce Patterson and Andrew Citriniti were placed on administrative leave with pay.
The police body camera video shows a chaotic scene.
Nyah Mway points the replica handgun at the officers while he runs from them. The officers scream “gun!” to each other as they run.
Patterson then tackles and punches Nyah Mway, and as the two are wrestling on the ground, Husnay opens fire.
Officers initially thought Nyah Mway may have shot himself, and Patterson says, “I don’t know if he shot me.” It is not clear whether he is referring to Nyah Mway or his fellow officer. Patterson was not struck.
Bystanders scream at the police throughout the recordings, and at one point an officer yells back: “We’re trying to save him right now!”
The other youth was detained in the back of a police vehicle and was not involved in the shooting.
The police department released the body camera videos following a public outcry as the shooting roiled Utica, a city of more than 65,000 located some 240 miles (400 kilometers) northwest of Manhattan. It is home to more than 4,200 people from Myanmar, according to The Center, a nonprofit that helps to resettle the refugees.
Nyah Mway, who local media reports said was an 8th grader at Donovan Middle School, has been identified as a refugee born in Myanmar and a member of the Karen ethnic minority.
Karens are an ethnic minority that are among the groups warring with the military rulers of the Southeast Asian country formerly known as Burma. The army ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021 and suppressed widespread nonviolent protests that sought a return to democratic rule.
During a tense news conference Saturday, Williams would not say what prompted police to stop the two youths or what the investigation concerned. The news conference ended early as Williams, the city’s mayor and an interpreter struggled to speak over repeated audience outbursts. Members of the community, including the youth’s family, were in attendance.
The police department is conducting its own internal investigation to see whether officers followed policies and training. The state attorney general will open its own case to determine if the shooting was justified.
“I want to offer my heartfelt condolences to the family of the deceased party during this difficult time,” Williams said. "This is a tragic and traumatic incident for all involved.”
Dazio reported from Los Angeles. Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo.
This combination of images released by the Utica Police Department shows a replica of a Glock 17 Gen 5 handgun recovered after an officer fatally shot a 13-year-old boy who had been tackled to the ground after he ran from police and pointed the replica gun at them on Friday, June 28, 2024, in Utica, N.Y. (Utica, N.Y., Police Department via AP)
Utica Mayor Michael Galime, center right, grey jacket, talks with the family members of a 13-year-old boy who was fatally shot by a police officer Friday night after a news conference, Saturday, June 28, 2024 in Utica, N.Y. An officer shot and killed the teenager who was fleeing while wielding a “realistic appearing firearm," authorities said Saturday. (Kenny Lacy Jr./Syracuse.com via AP)
Police investigate the scene of Friday nights shooting in Utica, N.Y., early Saturday, June 29, 2024. An officer shot and killed a teen fleeing while pointing a replica gun, police said Saturday. (Kenny Lacy Jr./Syracuse.com via AP)
