By Steve Neavling
Former President Trump’s claims that the FBI misled the court to search Mar-a-Lago were rejected by Judge Aileen Cannon on Thursday, but she granted an additional hearing on whether prosecutors improperly breached attorney-client privilege to secure their indictment.
In an 11-page ruling, Cannon rejected Trump’s claims that the FBI misled a magistrate to obtain a search warrant for Mar-a-Lago.
Trump’s lawyers argued the FBI omitted crucial details from its search warrant application that could have altered the outcome.
“[N]one of the omitted information — even if added to the affidavit in support of the warrant — would have defeated a finding of probable cause” to search Mar-a-Lago, Cannon wrote.
But in a temporary victory for the former president, Cannon said she will hold a hearing to allow Trump’s attorneys to challenge some of the evidence gathered against him.
Cannon, who was appointed by Trump, said that “further factual development is warranted” and that an additional hearing is necessary to resolve “pertinent factual disputes” related to key evidence in the case.
The additional hearing is intended to determine whether prosecutors had misused statements by one of Trump’s former lawyers.
By granting the hearing, Cannon is once again allowing a delay in the dragged-out case.
A date for the hearing has not yet been set, but it’s unlikely that a trial would occur before the November election.
