Chief Judge Beryl Howell of DC, an Obama appointee on Friday ordered Trump’s lawyer Evan Corcoran to testify before a grand jury in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into classified documents stored at Mar-a-Lago.
Judge Howell, flipped Trump’s own lawyer Eric Corcoran into a witness when she obliterated Trump’s attorney-client privilege in a ruling on Friday.
Judge Howell ruled DOJ prosecutors ‘met the threshold for the crime-fraud exception’ for Trump’s attorney.
According to ABC News, Judge Howell ordered Corcoran to “hand over a number of records tied to what Howell described as Trump’s alleged “criminal scheme,” echoing prosecutors.”
“Those records include handwritten notes, invoices, and transcriptions of personal audio recordings.” the outlet said.
Judge Beryl Howell
President Trump’s lawyers appealed the ruling by Judge Beryl Howell, however, the DC Court of Appeals stayed the ruling on Wednesday.
The three-judge panel that ruled in favor of special counsel Jack Smith is stacked with Obama and Biden judges.
“The three-judge panel that issued the decision include Cornelia Pillard, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, and J. Michelle Childs and Florence Pan, both appointees of President Joe Biden,” AP reported.
AP reported:
A federal appeals court on Wednesday directed a lawyer for Donald Trump to turn over to prosecutors documents in the investigation into the former president’s retention of classified documents at his Florida estate.
The order is reflected in a brief notice by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The case is sealed, and none of the parties in the dispute are mentioned by name.
But the details appear to correspond with a closed-door fight before a lower court judge over whether M. Evan Corcoran could be forced to provide documents or give grand jury testimony in the Justice Department special counsel probe into whether Trump mishandled top-secret information at Mar-a-Lago.
Howell made the ruling on Friday right before she passed the baton to Judge James Boasberg.
Boasberg, also an Obama appointee, will now oversee Jack Smith’s cases against Trump.
via thegatewaypundit