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Judge pauses litigation in classified docs case while mulling Trump’s request for extension

At issue is how to handle the classified materials at the center of the case.

The judge overseeing the probe into former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents has paused any litigation involving the classified materials in question as she considers a request from Trump to extend deadlines in the case, according to a new order.

At issue is how the classified materials at the center of the case are to be handled by the defendants and their attorneys, based on national security requirements.

After Judge Aileen Cannon established several deadlines for ruling on those issues, Trump’s legal team last month filed a motion asking her for a three-month extension, saying that Trump and his co-defendants have still not had access “to significant portions of the materials that the Special Counsel’s Office has characterized as classified and conceded are discoverable — much less the additional classified materials to which President Trump is entitled following anticipated discovery litigation.”

Cannon’s order on Friday temporarily pauses the upcoming deadlines as she considers Trump’s motion.

Former President Donald Trump sits in the courtroom before the continuation of his civil business fraud trial at New York Supreme Court, Oct. 3, 2023, in New York.
Seth Wenig/AP, FILE

Special counsel Jack Smith’s ‘s office said in a recent filing that some documents are so sensitive that they cannot be stored in a secure facility in Florida with the other documents in the case. Smith’s team has told the court that the documents can be made available in a secure facility in Washington, D.C., for review.

Source : https://abcnews.go.com/US/judge-pauses-litigation-classified-docs-case-mulling-trumps/story?id=103788426

Trump’s $475 million ‘big lie’ defamation lawsuit against CNN dismissed

Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at the Republican Party of Iowa’s Lincoln Day Dinner in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., July 28, 2023. REUTERS/Scott Morgan/File Photo

A federal judge has thrown out Donald Trump’s $475 million defamation lawsuit against CNN, in which the former president claimed the network’s description of his election fraud as the “big lie” associated him with Adolf Hitler.

In a ruling late on Friday night, U.S. Judge Raag Singhal, who was nominated by Trump in 2019, said CNN’s words were opinion, not fact, and therefore could not be the subject of a defamation claim.

“CNN’s statements while repugnant, were not, as a matter of law, defamatory,” wrote Singhal, who sits in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, near Trump’s home at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

In a statement, a Trump spokesperson said: “We agree with the highly respected judge’s findings that CNN’s statements about President Trump are repugnant. CNN will be held responsible for their wrongful mistreatment of President Trump and his supporters.”

The statement did not say whether Trump would appeal the decision.

The lawsuit, which was filed in October 2022, highlighted five instances in which CNN either published stories or aired comments referring to Trump’s assertions about the 2020 election as his “big lie.” The phrase is also associated with the Nazi regime’s use of propaganda.

The wording, the lawsuit said, constituted “a deliberate effort by CNN to propagate to its audience an association between the plaintiff and one of the most repugnant figures in modern history.”

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trumps-475-mln-big-lie-defamation-lawsuit-against-cnn-dismissed-2023-07-29/

Court on Kangana Ranaut’s complaint: Sufficient grounds to proceed against Javed Akhtar for criminal intimidation

The court has summoned Javed Akhtar to appear before a Mumbai court on August 5. He can also be charged for acts intended to insult modesty of a woman.

Javed Akhtar has been asked to appear before a court regarding a complaint filed against him by Kangana Ranaut.

Lyricist Javed Akhtar has been asked to appear before a Mumbai court regarding a counter complaint filed against him by Kangana Ranaut for alleged “extortion and criminal intimidation”. Now a PTI report has revealed that the court, while summoning him to appear on August 5, had said that there was indeed sufficient ground to proceed against him for the offence of criminal intimidation and gestures or acts intended to insult the modesty of a woman.

In 2020, Javed had filed a complaint against Kangana when in an interview she accused him of threatening her after calling her to his home amid her ugly fight with Hrithik Roshan over their alleged affair. Kangana had then filed a counter complaint against Javed Akhtar.

What the court said
Metropolitan magistrate (Andheri court) R M Shaikh on July 24 issued the summons against Javed Akhtar, asking him to appear before the court on August 5. While issuing summons, the court said no case of extortion was made out against the lyricist. Asking a person to give a written apology will not come under the definition of “valuable security” as defined under section 30 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) because no legal right is created, extended, transferred, restricted, extinguished or released, it said.

“As far as other offences levelled against the accused are concerned, on the basis of averments in the complaint, verification of the complainant and statement of her (Kangana’s) sister Rangoli Chandel,” the court said. “I have come to the conclusion that there are sufficient grounds to proceed against the accused for offence under IPC section 506 (criminal intimidation) and 509 (gestures or acts intended to insult the modesty of a woman),” the court added.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/court-on-kangana-ranauts-complaint-against-javed-akhtar-criminal-intimidation-101690418750959.html