In what’s being called a “flurry” of filings by Special Counsel Jack Smith late Friday in the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump, the focus and headlines have largely landed on Smith’s request for a continuance and proposed revised scheduling for the trial.
The prosecution has asked to move the trial date to December 11, 2023 from August 14, 2023, the original date set by Judge Aileen Cannon.
The attention on the trial’s timing — which prosecutors assert in the filing is necessary due to the complex issues surrounding procedures for dealing with classified information — meant initially that less attention is being paid to another revelation contained in the motions.
It’s a revelation that Trump’s lawyers are presumably more concerned about than a new trial date (which was expected).
That revelation is this: Smith puts the number of potential witnesses against Trump that he may call during trial at 84.
In a note accompanying the 84 figure, Smith qualified that the current list “does not comprise all of the witnesses the government might call at trial.”
It’s a big number. If Smith called three witnesses a day five days a week, witness testimony alone — in the unlikely event all 84 witnesses testified — would take nearly six weeks.
The list was provided to Trump’s counsel because the former President has been instructed by Judge Cannon not to communicate with potential witnesses, a guard against witness tampering by the defendant.
Left-leaning Twitter presence MeidasTouch gives a take on the filings below.
🚨 These Friday night filings from Jack Smith show that he is READY for trial and has AT LEAST 84 witnesses.
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) June 24, 2023
If you think for a second that he is trying to delay this, think again. That's the exact OPPOSITE of what is happening here.
We explain. https://t.co/1U2nhenDjz
The number of witnesses on Smith’s list was communicated in a footnote, which read:
“The government has conferred with counsel for Defendant Trump and Defendant Nauta about this motion. They have authorized government counsel to represent the following: ‘Defense counsel takes no position on the government’s motion to seal the list of witnesses, but the defense reserves the right to object to the special condition and how it was implemented by the government by providing a list of 84 witnesses in purported compliance with the court’s order.'”
