(WASHINGTON) — The third and final day of hearings in Donald Trump’s classified documents case reached a heated conclusion after prosecutor for special counsel Jack Smith accused the former president’s lawyers of “hijacking” the hearings with far-fetched allegations about the case.
“There is no hijacking going on — it’s about to end,” U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon responded, cutting off prosecutor David Harbach.
“It’s not fair,” Harbach responded, arguing that Trump’s lawyers effectively “hijacked” the hearing by raising issues that have “nothing to do” with the matters before the court.
Cannon had convened the hearings to hear arguments over the defense’s requests to have the case dismissed, as well as their efforts to limit prosecutors’ use of selected evidence.
Trump pleaded not guilty last year to 40 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials after leaving the White House, after prosecutors said he repeatedly refused to return hundreds of documents containing classified information and took steps to thwart the government’s efforts to get the documents back.
Trump has denied all charges and denounced the probe as a political witch hunt.
Judge Cannon concluded Tuesday’s hearing without issuing any ruling from the bench. The judge generally appeared skeptical of the defense argument that the evidence seized from the FBI’s August 2022 search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate should be tossed because of a lack of specificity in the search warrant.
During the hearing, Cannon grew frustrated with arguments from both sides.
“Can we just stay focused on this motion, please?” Cannon told defense attorney Emil Bove.
Earlier in the hearing, she implored Harbach to “please try not to put words in my mouth.”
“I didn’t mean to try to put words in your mouth, your honor,” Harbach responded.
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