XPost: misc.legal, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, talk.politics.guns
XPost: sac.politics

FORT PIERCE, Fla. (AP) — A judge on Thursday scolded federal prosecutors
in the classified documents case against Donald Trump as she postponed a hearing to determine if the lawyer for one of the former president's co- defendants had a conflict of interest.

U.S District Judge Aileen Cannon admonished prosecutors for “wasting the court's time,” telling them they had presented arguments during Thursday's hearing that had not been properly raised in earlier court filings.

She said she would continue the hearing at a later date for Walt Nauta, a
Trump valet charged with conspiring with Trump to conceal classified
documents from investigators.

Special counsel Jack Smith’s team had asked for hearings to ensure that
Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira were aware of potential conflicts because
their lawyers have represented other key figures in the case. Both men
were charged alongside Trump with obstructing government efforts to
recover classified documents hoarded at Mar-a-Lago, the former president's Florida estate.

Prosecutors have said in court filings that the multiple representations
could create a conflict by causing a lawyer to betray the confidences of a current or former client, or to “pull punches,” during cross-examination.

In Nauta's case, his attorney, Stanley Woodward, has represented at least
seven other witnesses in the probe, prosecutors say, including a Mar-a-
Lago information technology worker the Justice Department says was asked
to delete the surveillance video.

That individual retracted “prior false testimony” after switching lawyers, struck a cooperation deal and provided information that incriminated Trump
and helped produce a new indictment in July against the former president,
Nauta and De Oliveira, prosecutors have said.

During Thursday's hearing, prosecutor David Harbach, a member of Smith's
team, said that worker would be called as a government witness and
questioned — and also cross-examined — about his change in testimony.

He said it would be a conflict for Woodward, who as the worker's former
lawyer would presumably be privy to the confidences of his one-time
client, to be permitted to cross-examine his client — a point Cannon said
had not been previously argued.

Woodward has denied any conflict and said prosecutors have no way of
knowing what he knows or doesn't know about what his client communicated
to him.

At a hearing earlier in the day, De Oliveira said under questioning from
Cannon that he understood the concerns arising from his lawyer's former representation of three government witnesses. Nonetheless, he wanted to
keep his attorney, John Irving. Cannon ruled that he could.

Irving told the judge he did not foresee a conflict, saying there was
nothing the witnesses — who are now represented by a new lawyer — could
reveal that is not already known by the government or that would be
problematic for De Oliveira.

De Oliveira is accused of lying to investigators when he claimed —
falsely, prosecutors say — he hadn’t even seen boxes moved into Mar-a-Lago after Trump left the White House. Prosecutors say he also conspired with
Trump and Nauta to try to delete surveillance footage from the property to prevent it from being turned over to the grand jury. De Oliveira has
pleaded not guilty.

The criminal case is one of four Trump faces. He's also charged in state
and federal cases with scheming to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, and is accused in New York of falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment made to a porn actor.

https://news.yahoo.com/judge-scolds-prosecutors-she-delays-201222422.html

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