Tag: Court

2020 Delhi riots: Court frames charges of abduction, murder against Tahir Hussain, others

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New Delhi: A court here on Thursday framed charges for several offences, including abduction and murder, against AAP leader Tahir Hussain and 10 others in connection with the alleged murder of Intelligence Bureau officer Ankit Sharma during the 2020 northeast Delhi riots.
Additional Sessions Judge Pulastya Pramachala was hearing the case registered at the Dayalpur Police Station against 11 accused, including Hussain, on the complaint lodged by the officer’s father.
Sharma’s body was recovered from Khajuri Khas drain near the Chand Bagh pulia.
“I find that accused persons namely Mohd Tahir Hussain, Haseen, Nazim, Kasim, Sameer Khan, Anas, Firoz, Javed, Gulfam, Shoib Alam and Muntajim are liable to be tried for an offence punishable under section 120 B (criminal conspiracy) IPC read with sections 147 (rioting ) 148 (rioting, armed with a deadly weapon) and 153A (punishment for promoting enmity between groups on the ground of religion etc) and 302 (murder) of the IPC,” the judge said.
They are also liable to be tried under sections for kidnapping and wrongful confinement, the judge added.
All accused, except Muntajim, were put on trial for the offences under sections 153 A of the IPC read with 120B and 149 IPC, the judge said, adding, Haseen and Nazim are also liable to be tried for the offence under the provision of the Arms Act.
According to Special Public Prosecutor Madhukar Pandey, a witness had captured a video of the throwing of a dead body in the drain and the call detail records (CDR) of all accused, except accused Anas, Nazim and Kasim, proved their presence in and around the spot of the incident, which corroborated the prosecution’s case against the accused.
“All accused indulged in targeting Hindus and their acts were apparently prejudicial to the harmony between communities of Muslims and Hindus. They disturbed the public tranquillity as well,” the judge said.

The judge said the act of a group of more than one person from a mob can make everyone liable.
Pramachal said that in the present case, it was not necessary for all members of mob to play some overt act in the killing of Ankit Sharma and according to the evidence before the court, the mob was acting in a “well-prepared manner to attack Hindus and their properties, which signified the existence of prior meeting of their mind.”
Tahir Hussain also played the “role of instigator to kill Hindus” and also exhorted this mob “not to spare Hindus,” the judge said.
“He (Hussain) instigated the mob when Ankit came forward towards this mob and the conspiracy need not be specifically to kill Ankit. When the accused persons were acting in pursuance to conspiracy and common object to kill Hindus, it covered the killing of Ankit as well for the reasons that Ankit was killed because he was Hindu,” the judge said.
The judge said the mob continuously indulged in the firing of gunshots, pelting of stones and petrol bombs “towards Hindus and houses of Hindus.”
“These acts of the mob make it clear that their objective was to harm Hindus in their body and property to the maximum possible extent. It is also clearly shown that this mob consciously wanted to even kill Hindus,” the judge said.
The ASJ also said that at the present stage of the trial, the court cannot raise any presumption against the veracity of the statements of the witnesses because of the delay in recording their statements.
The rule of prudence can be applied only after trial, at the time of assessment of the evidence on the parameters of credibility, he added.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 24, 2023
Delhi riots: Court rejects police revision petition against separate FIR order

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New Delhi: A court here has dismissed a revision petition filed by the Delhi Police against the order of a magisterial court to register a separate FIR on the basis of a complaint pertaining to the 2020 northeast Delhi riots.
Upholding the order directing the station house officer (SHO) concerned to register a case, the sessions court said that just because there was a flood of complaints, the investigating agency could not make an exception to the mandate of law.
The court also observed that an excess number of complaints cannot be a reason for the clubbing them together unless there was the proximity of time and place showing “continuous action” by the perpetrators in the alleged crime.
The court was hearing the matter wherein the complainant, Mohd Vakil, had moved an application for the registration of a separate case, rather than attaching his complaint in an FIR registered by Karawal Nagar police station, and the magisterial court in November last year had allowed his plea.
Against the magisterial court’s order, the Delhi Police had filed the present revision petition in the sessions court.
“Excess number of complaints cannot be a ground to club all or several complaints without there being the proximity of time and place of the alleged crime, so as to show continuous action of the perpetrators,” Additional Sessions Judge Pulastya Pramachala said in an order passed on Tuesday.
The judge also said there was no “illegality” committed by the magistrate.
The judge noted that complainant Mohd Vakil, a resident of Shiv Vihar, claimed to have been injured by an acid bottle thrown on his house by some rioters on February 25, 2020, and his complaint was clubbed in FIR number 138/20.

This FIR was registered on the complaint of a man called Furkan Ansari, of another lane in the same locality, who had alleged damage to his car and house by rioters during his absence on the same day, the court noted.
The judge also noted that during the proceedings, the prosecution informed that the final report in the FIR was not yet filed and they were about to file an “untrace report” (regarding the offenders remaining untraceable).
“The complainant in a case is conferred with certain legal remedies, in case he is not satisfied with the investigation carried out by the investigating agency and clubbing all complaints of several incidents, in one FIR cannot be termed legal, unless all these complaints on the face of it show the time and place of such incidents to be the same and indicate towards the same perpetrators of the crime i.e, on the basis of continuity of action of the perpetrators,” the judge said.
ASJ Pramachala further said that “just because there was a flood of complaints, investigating agency could not make an exception to the mandate of law”.
The judge said, “I also find that the FIR no. 138/20 cannot be termed as a sufficient step taken on the complaint of the respondent (Mohd Vakil) herein. The place of incident in aforesaid FIR and the place of incident as disclosed in the complaint of the respondent herein were apparently different places.”
He said that even though both incidents were outcomes of riotous acts, still the investigation in both could not be the same.
The judge said that Ansari was not present at his house during the alleged incident, and according to him, the incident occurred at an unknown time and date, while Vakil had claimed to be an eyewitness of the incident, besides mentioning the concrete date and time of the alleged incident.
“The case laws referred by the state are not applicable to the situation involved herein. It is not a case of two versions of the same incident,” the judge said rejecting the arguments of the petitioner (Delhi Police).
According to Delhi Police, the magisterial court had failed to consider that Vakil’s complaint was clubbed in accordance with the law and that Vakil had no grievance against the police regarding the quality of the investigation.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 23, 2023
Court orders anonymous jury in civil suit over alleged rape by Trump

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Neither Carroll nor Trump asked Kaplan, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, to block access to the jurors’ names, addresses and similar information. Kaplan raised the idea on his own and announced Thursday he will impose the secrecy despite objections from two news outlets: the Associated Press and the New York Daily News.
Tracking Trump investigations
The secrecy measure is typically reserved for criminal cases involving alleged mafia or drug kingpins. But Kaplan cited a series of alleged threats of violence by Trump, his public attacks on jurors in other cases and various reports describing Trump’s role in fomenting the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, as well as his statement Saturday urging his followers to protest what he said was his looming arrest in a probe led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
“Mr. Trump’s quite recent reaction to what he perceived as an imminent threat of indictment by a grand jury sitting virtually next door to this Court was to encourage ‘protest’ and to urge people to ‘take our country back,’” Kaplan wrote in an 18-page decision. “That reaction reportedly has been perceived by some as incitement to violence. And it bears mention that Mr. Trump repeatedly has attacked courts, judges, various law enforcement officials and other public officials, and even individual jurors in other matters.”
Even as he recounted a litany of provocative statements by Trump, Kaplan was careful to say that he was not accusing the former president of being responsible for incitement, only that the specter created by his statements could be seen as intimidating.
“For purposes of this order, it matters not whether Mr. Trump incited violence in either a legal or a factual sense. The point is whether jurors will perceive themselves to be at risk,” the judge wrote.
Kaplan noted that neither side in the case objected to the proposed jury-secrecy order, which instructs court personnel not to reveal the names, addresses or places of employment of prospective jurors or actual jurors empaneled in the trial, scheduled to start April 25 at a federal courthouse in lower Manhattan just a few blocks from where Bragg’s grand jury has been hearing evidence against Trump in a probe stemming from a payment of hush money in 2016 to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Caroll’s lawsuit is the second she filed in connection with Trump’s alleged attack on her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in 1995 or 1996. The first, filed in 2019, accused Trump of defamation for his statements denying her rape claim. The second suit, which Kaplan has ordered be tried first, was filed in November and seeks damages against Trump directly for the alleged rape. Caroll’s lawyers have said they couldn’t file that case until last year, after New York’s Legislature extended the statute of limitations for civil suits alleging sexual abuse or harassment.

Trump’s attorneys argued that the extension was unconstitutional, but Kaplan disagreed.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 23, 2023
Delhi court reserves order on summons in defamation case by Shekhawat against Raj CM

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New Delhi: A Delhi court on Thursday reserved the order on the point of issuance of summons in a defamation case filed by Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat against Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot over the latter’s “misleading statements” against him.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Harpreet Singh Jaspal of the Rouse Avenue Court has listed the matter for order on the issuance of summons for Friday after the conclusion of submission and recording of pre-summoning of evidence in the case.
Shekhawat filed a defamation case against Gehlot earlier this month, claiming that the latter made defamatory statements against him in connection with the Sanjivani Credit Cooperative Society scam.
He has said that an investigation was initiated in the case but his name was not mentioned anywhere and demanded prosecution against Gehlot for criminal defamation under the Indian Penal Code (IPC). He has also demanded appropriate financial compensation for the loss of his reputation.
Earlier, the war of words between Gehlot and Shekhawat had intensified over the Sanjivani Credit Cooperative Society scam with the Rajasthan Chief Minister openly declaring the Union Minister “a culprit like the others”.
“The Union Minister is trying to mislead the public in the case of the Sanjivani Cooperative Society Ltd scam. In the investigation of the Special Operation Group (SOG), the crime has been proved against him under the same sections as the other arrested accused.”
Shekhawat had said that Gehlot terming him as an ‘accused’ in the Sanjivani Credit Cooperative Society scam is akin to his “political assassination to settle scores”.
“The SOG presented three chargesheets but there is neither my nor my family’s name anywhere. Still, the Chief Minister called me an accused,” he said.

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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 23, 2023
Delhi court reserves order on summons in defamation case by Shekhawat against Raj CM

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New Delhi: A Delhi court on Thursday reserved the order on the point of issuance of summons in a defamation case filed by Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat against Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot over the latter’s “misleading statements” against him.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Harpreet Singh Jaspal of the Rouse Avenue Court has listed the matter for order on the issuance of summons for Friday after the conclusion of submission and recording of pre-summoning of evidence in the case.
Shekhawat filed a defamation case against Gehlot earlier this month, claiming that the latter made defamatory statements against him in connection with the Sanjivani Credit Cooperative Society scam.
He has said that an investigation was initiated in the case but his name was not mentioned anywhere and demanded prosecution against Gehlot for criminal defamation under the Indian Penal Code (IPC). He has also demanded appropriate financial compensation for the loss of his reputation.
Earlier, the war of words between Gehlot and Shekhawat had intensified over the Sanjivani Credit Cooperative Society scam with the Rajasthan Chief Minister openly declaring the Union Minister “a culprit like the others”.
“The Union Minister is trying to mislead the public in the case of the Sanjivani Cooperative Society Ltd scam. In the investigation of the Special Operation Group (SOG), the crime has been proved against him under the same sections as the other arrested accused.”
Shekhawat had said that Gehlot terming him as an ‘accused’ in the Sanjivani Credit Cooperative Society scam is akin to his “political assassination to settle scores”.
“The SOG presented three chargesheets but there is neither my nor my family’s name anywhere. Still, the Chief Minister called me an accused,” he said.

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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 23, 2023
Court Rejects Bail Plea By Conman

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SRINAGAR: A court here on Thursday dismissed bail plea of man from Gujarat, Kiran Patel, who conned the security establishment in Jammu and Kashmir into believing him to be a PMO official and got the requisite perks prior to his arrest earlier this month.
Having reserved the order on Monday after hearing the arguments of the counsel representing Patel and additional public prosecutor, the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Srinagar Raja Mohammad Tasleem found the bail plea “devoid of any merit”.
“I am of the considered opinion that arguments advanced by APP are just, proper and appealing and carries much weight and on the other hand I respectfully disagree with the submission put forth by Counsel for the applicant (Patel) because in case at this stage discretion of bail is exercised in favour of the accused it shall definitely destroy the very fabric of the investigation,” the court said as per the order, a copy of which lies with the news agency GNS. “Resultantly, in my considered opinion the instant application is devoid of any merit which deserves to be rejected, hence rejected.”
Kiran Patel, the alleged imposter hailing from Gujarat posed as an additional director (strategy and campaigns) in the Prime Minister’s Office and enjoyed many perks, including a bulletproof car and security cover besides other hospitality. Kiran Patel was on his third visit to the Kashmir Valley when he was nabbed by security officials from a five-star hotel in Nishat area of Srinagar on March 2.
Police has ruled out any intelligence failure in the entire episode but blamed field officers for “lapse” with further avowal of action against those involved. “There has been a proper FIR in this case. See, when Srinagar police got information on March 2, a team headed by a senior IPS officer arrested him red handed. Fake visiting cards were recovered,” ADGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar (IPS) said recently. “Rigorous interrogation was done. He remained under police custody for 14 days. He is presently in judicial remand. He is in jail completely,” he had said, adding, “We are professionally carrying out investigation. We are taking help from Gujarat police and nobody will be spared”.
Asked about “clear cut” guidelines by MHA that no security should be given to anyone on verbal instructions, he had said, “The SOP is there from the beginning. Instructions come from time to time. Police should not provide security to anyone on verbal instructions. We don’t. The mistake which has happened is being looked into and action will be taken against the officer who has given instructions.”
Asked if it was an intelligence failure, the ADGP had responded in negative, saying “we cannot call it intelligence failure. There has been negligence at the field officer level and action will be taken.” (GNS)

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#Court #Rejects #Bail #Plea #Conman
( With inputs from : kashmirlife.net )

March 23, 2023
Court Rejects Bail Plea By Conman

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Srinagar, Mar 23: A court here on Thursday dismissed bail plea of man from Gujarat, Kiran Patel, who conned the security establishment in Jammu and Kashmir into believing him to be a PMO official and got the requisite perks prior to his arrest earlier this month.
Having reserved the order on Monday after hearing the arguments of the counsel representing Patel and additional public prosecutor, the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Srinagar Raja Mohammad Tasleem found the bail plea “devoid of any merit”.
“I am of the considered opinion that arguments advanced by APP are just, proper and appealing and carries much weight and on the other hand I respectfully disagree with the submission put forth by Counsel for the applicant (Patel) because in case at this stage discretion of bail is exercised in favour of the accused it shall definitely destroy the very fabric of the investigation,” the court said as per the order, a copy of which lies with GNS. “Resultantly, in my considered opinion the instant application is devoid of any merit which deserves to be rejected, hence rejected.”
Kiran Patel, the alleged imposter hailing from Gujarat posed as an additional director (strategy and campaigns) in the Prime Minister’s Office and enjoyed many perks, including a bulletproof car and security cover besides other hospitality. Kiran Patel was on his third visit to the Kashmir Valley when he was nabbed by security officials from a five-star hotel in Nishat area of Srinagar on March 2.
Police has ruled out any intelligence failure in the entire episode but blamed field officers for “lapse” with further avowal of action against those involved. “There has been a proper FIR in this case. See, when Srinagar police got information on March 2, a team headed by a senior IPS officer arrested him red handed. Fake visiting cards were recovered,” ADGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar (IPS) said recently. “Rigorous interrogation was done. He remained under police custody for 14 days. He is presently in judicial remand. He is in jail completely,” he had said, adding, “We are professionally carrying out investigation. We are taking help from Gujarat police and nobody will be spared”.
Asked about “clear cut” guidelines by MHA that no security should be given to anyone on verbal instructions, he had said, “The SOP is there from the beginning. Instructions come from time to time. Police should not provide security to anyone on verbal instructions. We don’t. The mistake which has happened is being looked into and action will be taken against the officer who has given instructions.”
Asked if it was an intelligence failure, the ADGP had responded in negative, saying “we cannot call it intelligence failure. There has been negligence at the field officer level and action will be taken.” (GNS)

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( With inputs from : roshankashmir.net )

March 23, 2023
Arizona court declines most of Kari Lake’s appeal over governor’s race

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In her challenge, the former TV anchor focused on problems with ballot printers at some polling places in Maricopa County, home to more than 60% of the state’s voters.
The defective printers produced ballots that were too light to be read by the on-site tabulators at polling places. Lines backed up in some areas amid the confusion. Lake alleged ballot printer problems were the result of intentional misconduct.
County officials say everyone had a chance to vote, and all ballots were counted because those affected by the printers were taken to more sophisticated counters at election headquarters.
In mid-February, the Arizona Court of Appeal rejected Lake’s assertions, concluding she presented no evidence that voters whose ballots were unreadable by tabulators at polling places were not able to vote.
The appeals court noted that even a witness called to testify on Lake’s behalf confirmed ballots that couldn’t initially be read at polling places may ultimately have been counted. And while a pollster testified that the polling place problems disenfranchised enough voters to change the election’s outcome, the appeals court said his conclusion was baseless.
Lake’s attorneys also said the chain of custody for ballots was broken at an off-site facility where a contractor scans mail-in ballots to prepare them for processing. The lawyers asserted that workers put their own mail-in ballots into the pile rather than returning them through normal channels, and that paperwork documenting ballot transfers was missing. The county disputes the claims.
Hobbs’ attorneys have said Lake was trying to sow distrust in Arizona’s election results and offered no proof to back up her allegations.
Lake faced extremely long odds in her challenge, which required proving misconduct specifically intended to deny her victory and that it resulted in the wrong woman being declared the winner.

Hobbs took office as governor on Jan. 2.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 23, 2023
Nikki Yadav murder case: Delhi court extends accused Gehlot’s judicial custody

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New Delhi: A Delhi court on Wednesday extended the judicial custody of Nikki Yadav murder case main accused Sahil Gehlot and five others for 14 days.
The accused were produced in the court after the expiry of their custody and the Link Metropolitan Magistrate extended their judicial custody till April 5.
Gehlot had allegedly strangled 23-year-old Yadav near Kashmiri Gate on February 10 and married another woman on the same day. Four days later, Yadav’s body was found in a fridge at a dhaba, owned by Gehlot, in Mitraon village on the outskirts of Delhi.
The court had, on Monday, pulled up the police for not producing the case diary of the murder and had asked the Investigation Officer (IO) to come with it on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, the court then directed to preserve the Call Detail Record (CDR) along with the mobile location of accused, Lokesh Yadav.
Allowing a plea seeking the preservation of CDR, Link Metropolitan Magistrate Nitesh Goyal also permitted a plea for signing and pagination of the case diary by the IO.
The court had, on Monday, extended the judicial custody of the accused persons, including Gehlot for one day and by one more day on Tuesday.
During the hearing on Tuesday, Lokesh Yadav’s counsel, advocate Anirudh Yadav submitted that the accused had been arrested in the matter but he has no role in the murder and conspiracy.

Counsel further argued that it is necessary to preserve the CDR along with the mobile location of the accused in order to avoid any manipulation and that it is also necessary to get the case diary signed and paginated by the IO for the purpose of a fair investigation.
Advocate Yadav also submitted that some of the mobile phones seized by the police have recording facilities. All the conversations are recorded and the police must have heard them. These phones ought to be sealed and sent to the FSL for examination.
On the other hand, the investigation officer (IO) claimed that Lokesh Yadav and other suspects had been arrested in the murder case and that on the day of the murder, they were near the flat in Uttam Nagar, where Nikki Yadav had resided.
He also submitted that a request for obtaining a certified copy of CDR has been sent to the concerned mobile operator.
On Monday, Metropolitan Magistrate Paras Dalal had directed the IO to produce the case diary and pagination of the same on Tuesday.
The court had noted that the IO, due to his absence, deputed a Sub Inspector to attend the court hearing, who did not bring the case diary.
After noting the submission of advocate Anirudh Yadav, the court had asked the police how the offences related to murder and conspiracy are made out against him.
On March 6, the court had extended the judicial custody of Gehlot five others by 14 days, which expired on Monday.
Earlier, for Lokesh, advocate Yadav had moved an application seeking the marking of the case diary and showed displeasure over manipulation in it.
Gehlot’s father, Virender Singh; cousins Naveen (a constable in Delhi Police) and Ashish; and friends Lokesh and Amar are accused of hatching a conspiracy to get rid of Yadav, so he could go ahead with his wedding with another woman.
According to a senior police official, Gehlot was interrogated at length during police custody and disclosed that Yadav was trying to stop him from marrying someone else as they had already solemnised their marriage in 2020.
“She was pleading with him not to go ahead with the marriage fixed by his family with another girl on February 10. However, Gehlot along with his father, two cousins, and two friends hatched the conspiracy and planned to remove the deceased from their way,” the official had said.
“He executed the plan and murdered her and informed other co-accused persons about it on the same day and then all of them went ahead with the marriage ceremony.”
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 23, 2023
Court rejects Trump’s urgent bid to keep lawyer’s records from special counsel

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After setting middle-of-the-night deadlines for filings in the dispute, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday afternoon declined Trump’s request for a stay of Howell’s ruling, ordering attorney Evan Corcoran to provide records to a Washington-based grand jury assigned to the special counsel’s probe.
The appeals court’s full order was not released, so it was not immediately clear whether Corcoran would be required to testify in addition to providing documents. But a summary of the D.C. Circuit’s order indicated that prosecutors had prevailed and that stay requests from the Trump camp were denied.
It’s also unclear whether the panel provided any time for Trump to challenge the decision before the full bench of the appeals court or to seek relief from the Supreme Court.
Howell ruled on Friday that Trump’s attorney-client privilege had to yield to the grand jury’s need for Corcoran’s testimony and records, given evidence that the attorney had been used to advance a crime. Smith’s probe is exploring potential obstruction of justice of the classified-documents investigation, as well as illegal retention of classified information and theft of government records, according to court filings.
The appeals court’s order on Wednesday — from Judges Cornelia Pillard, J. Michelle Childs and Florence Pan — didn’t identify Corcoran or the case at issue but made clear that the government was on the winning side of the case in Howell’s court and in the appeals court’s new ruling.
Pillard is an appointee of President Barack Obama as is Howell, the District Court judge who ruled in the dispute. Childs and Pan are appointees of President Joe Biden.
Spokespeople for Trump, his campaign and Smith did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday on the appeals court’s decision.
“Prosecutors only attack lawyers when they have no case whatsoever,” Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign said in a statement on Tuesday night that also assailed what it called “illegal” leaks about the closed-door court fight. “These leaks are happening because there is no factual or legal basis or substance to any case against President Trump.”

In an order on Tuesday night, the three-judge appeals panel granted a short-term “administrative” stay and also asked Trump’s attorneys to specify the precise set of documents at issue by midnight and for Smith’s team to respond by 6 a.m. Wednesday to the Trump team’s demand for a longer stay of Howell’s ruling.
Howell’s secret order on Friday required Corcoran to testify about matters he and Trump had claimed were subject to attorney-client privilege. Her order relied on the “crime-fraud exception,” which permits investigators to pursue evidence that would ordinarily be privileged but contains evidence of likely criminal conduct.
As chief judge, Howell supervised all disputes arising from grand jury proceedings happening in Washington. That responsibility passed on Friday to U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg, who succeeded Howell as chief, but only after Howell issued the potentially momentous privilege ruling in the Trump-related legal fight.
Proceedings related to the classified-documents grand jury, including efforts by prosecutors to compel Corcoran’s testimony, are occurring under seal — typical for nearly all grand jury proceedings.
However, the appeals court’s docket provides bare-bones details about the case, identifying when the lower-court battle began — Feb. 7 — and confirming that it stems from a grand-jury-related ruling Howell issued on Friday.
The grand jury probe of Trump, helmed by Smith, is an outgrowth of a monthslong battle between the National Archives and Trump to obtain hundreds of government records stashed at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after leaving office. Trump’s aides returned 15 boxes of records in January 2022, including some that bore classification markings. As a result, the Archives brought in the Justice Department to pursue whether Trump had retained additional classified material.
In May 2022, the Justice Department subpoenaed Trump’s office, demanding the production of any other classified materials he might possess at Mar-a-Lago. Justice Department officials traveled in early June to Mar-a-Lago, where they briefly interacted with Trump and picked up a folder of records deemed classified. Trump’s team then certified that they had thoroughly searched the premises and turned over remaining classified documents.
But the department developed evidence suggesting that this wasn’t the case, leading to an Aug. 8, 2022, FBI search of the property, where dozens of additional documents with classification markings were discovered.
Corcoran, who was Trump’s primary point of contact with the Archives and the Justice Department, has faced scrutiny for his involvement in efforts to certify that Trump had returned all potentially classified materials.
The legal maneuvering in Washington comes as Trump’s lawyers are also awaiting a potential indictment of their client in an unrelated case in New York, an investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg into details of a hush money payment made in 2016 to the porn actress Stormy Daniels

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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 23, 2023