Secret grand jury in Trump docs case terminated

The mystery surrounding an “out-of-district grand jury” in Donald J. Trump’s Documents Case appears to be solved. Special Counsel Jack Smith was using an out-of-district grand jury to investigate Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents. That other grand jury was in Washington, D.C., and was not the same grand jury that indicted Trump for alleged improper procedure regarding counting electoral votes. This was a completely separate and secret body – which Smith now appears to have terminated.

An out-of-district grand jury

Two weeks ago (August 8), Judge Aileen M. Cannon in the Southern District of Florida denied a motion to file sealed evidence. The motion for leave to file under seal, and the evidence in question, appears as docket entries 95 and 96. Cannon ordered both entries stricken from the record, and invited counsel for Waltine Nauta (Trump’s co-defendant) to:

address the legal propriety of using an out-of-district grand jury proceeding to continue to investigate and/or to seek post-indictment hearings on matters pertinent to the instant indicted matter in this district.

Two reports appeared today, on Patriot Clash and The Tania Joy Show, describing the other half of the story. Apparently Smith opened his investigation in the Washington, D.C. district; Judge Beryl Howell oversaw these proceedings. Both these reports say that Judge Howell displayed a clear bias against Trump. But her worst ruling was ordering Trump’s attorney in that case, Evan Corcoran, to testify before the grand jury. This completely violates attorney-client privilege and even compels an attorney to be a witness against his own client. That last could be a violation of the Fifth Amendment, which reads in relevant part:

No person shall be … compelled to be a witness against himself.

Oddly, this case does not appear in the “RECAP Archive” at Court Listener. The only case that does appear is the case in the Southern District of Florida, before Judge Cannon. Things seem to have come to a head when Smith tried to introduce evidence from the D.C. grand jury into the Florida case. The reason for filing in Florida is that the documents in question were in Trump’s home in Florida. Even a Special Counsel cannot file a complaint in one district for acts a defendant allegedly commits in another.

The blow-up

Documents 95 and 96 on the Florida docket were probably evidence from that Washington grand jury. Smith tried to introduce that evidence under seal, but Judge Cannon refused.

Now, apparently, Smith has quietly filed papers to dismiss the Washington, D.C. panel He would appear now to want the question of his use of two grand juries to go away.