‘Wasting the court’s time’: Judge Cannon chastises prosecutors during hearing for Trump co-defendants

FORT PIERCE, Fla. — The federal judge overseeing Donald Trump’s classified documents case in Florida reprimanded federal prosecutors for “wasting the court’s time” by not raising arguments in required filings ahead of the hearing.

U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon ultimately postponed a conflict-of-interest hearing for defendant Waltine Nauta, Trump’s valet who is represented by attorney Stanley Woodward.

Prosecutors on special counsel Jack Smith’s team raised fresh objections Thursday over whether Woodward should be allowed to question a key witness in the case. But Woodward told the judge that the prosecutors should have raised their arguments in court filings ahead of the hearing so he could discuss them with his client.

Cannon, who was clearly angry, agreed and called prosecutors’ arguments a “last-minute introduction.” Cannon was appointed to the bench by Trump.

Sticking to the correct procedure would have helped all sides come prepared to discuss the objections, she said, and chastised the prosecutors for not presenting related cases to bolster their arguments.

The case, one of four separate criminal cases Trump is facing, centers on allegations that the former president illegally hoarded classified documents at Mar-a-Lago and obstructed authorities who were investigating the matter. Two co-defendant in the case, Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira, a Mar-a-Lago property manager, are facing related charges. All three have pleaded not guilty.

David Harbach, the veteran prosecutor representing the special counsel, drew Cannon’s ire after he asked her to consider barring Woodward from cross-examining “Trump Employee 4” at the trial, which is scheduled for next May.

The Mar-a-Lago employee in question, IT worker Yuscil Taveras, was previously represented by Woodward. When Woodward represented him, Taveras initially told investigators that he hadn’t heard conversations about allegedly deleting evidence in the case but then recanted his testimony after getting a public defender.

If Woodward were allowed to question Taveras, he’d be in the awkward position of asking his former client why he changed his testimony.

One aspect not mentioned at the hearing was that Woodward also represents numerous MAGA clients, including Jan. 6 rioters, and received payments from Trump’s Save America PAC.

The intent of the hearing, as Cannon explained it, was to help Nauta understand potential conflicts that might arise over the course of the trial so that he could decide whether he still wanted Woodward to represent him.

An earlier hearing with De Oliveira proceeded smoothly, with De Oliveira deciding that he wanted to proceed with his attorney, John Irving, and waive conflict-of-interest concerns. Irving previously represented three other potential witnesses in the trial, and the various parties agreed that if there were any concerns, then De Oliveira’s Florida attorney, Donald Morrell, could cross-examine those particular witnesses.

The decision to postpone the hearing could further delay the trial against Trump, currently set for May 20, 2024. That could work in Trump’s favor, as his attorneys have been asked to move the date of the trial until after the 2024 election.

Both Nauta and De Oliveira are accused of trying to delete Mar-a-Lago surveillance footage requested by authorities, and Nauta faces additional felony charges of trying to conspire with Trump to obstruct the investigation.

Thursday’s hearings, known as “Garcia hearings,” are routine in criminal cases and are held to help defendants understand what potential conflicts their attorneys might have so they can consider whether they want to have someone else represent them.

Cannon laid out various scenarios to de Oliveira on Thursday about possible conflict of interest issues that might emerge and warned the defendant that Irving could have “divided loyalties” that might prevent him from poking holes in witnesses testimony.

She repeatedly told De Oliveira that he could take more time to make a decision and warned he could not use the conflict-of-interest argument in a potential appeal. De Oliveira said he wanted to keep working with Irving.