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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

Singapore to execute woman on drugs charge for the first time in 20 years

Singapore is scheduled to execute a woman for the first time in almost 20 years, human rights advocates say.

In April, another Singaporean, Tangaraju Suppiah, was executed for trafficking 1kg (35oz) of cannabis that he never touched. Authorities say he co-ordinated the sale via mobile phone.

The CNB declined to comment on Saridewi Djamani’s case when contacted by the BBC.

British billionaire Sir Richard Branson, has again criticised Singapore for its executions, saying the death penalty is not a deterrent against crime.

“Small-scale drug traffickers need help, as most are bullied due to their circumstances,” Mr Branson said on Twitter, adding that it was not too late to stop Saridewi Djamani’s execution.

She is one of two women on death row in Singapore, according to the Transformative Justice Collective, a Singapore-based human rights group. She will be the first woman executed by the city-state since hairdresser Yen May Woen in 2004, the group said. Yen was also convicted of drug trafficking.

Local media reported that Saridewi testified during her trial that she was stocking up on heroin for personal use during the Islamic fasting month.

Singaporean national Saridewi Djamani, 45, was found guilty of trafficking 30g (1.06oz) of heroin in 2018.

She will be the second drug convict to be executed in three days, after fellow Singaporean Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, and the 15th since March 2022.

Singapore has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws, which it says are necessary to protect society.

Aziz was convicted of trafficking 50g of heroin. Under Singapore law, the death penalty can be applied for trafficking of more than 15g of heroin and more than 500g of cannabis.

Singapore’s Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) said Aziz was accorded “full due process”, and that his appeal against his conviction and sentence was dismissed in 2018.

While she did not deny selling drugs such as heroin and methamphetamine from her flat, she downplayed the scale of those activities, noted judge See Kee Oon.

Authorities argue that strict drug laws help keep Singapore as one of the safest places in the world and that capital punishment for drug offences enjoys wide public support.

But anti-death penalty advocates contest this.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-66309347

Hunter Biden pleads not guilty after plea deal is derailed

The judge raised concerns over two separate agreements the president’s son reached with prosecutors, but the agreement could ultimately be accepted.

Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to federal tax charges Wednesday after a plea deal he struck with the government unraveled when the judge raised questions about the terms of the agreement.

The surprise development came at a hearing in federal court here at which Biden had been expected to plead guilty to two charges of failure to pay taxes under a deal he struck with the government last month. Far from signing off on a done deal, he pleaded “not guilty” to those charges instead until the two sides can meet and address the questions posed by U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika.

At times, Noreika appeared almost upset that she believed she was being asked to act as a “rubber stamp” for the deal. The parties will reconvene later to hammer out the terms and provide Noreika more information, which could be within the next six weeks.

“Without me saying I’ll agree to the plea agreement, how do you plead?” Noreika asked Biden.

“Not guilty, your honor,” he responded.

Biden is expected to reverse his plea if a new agreement or the new information eventually satisfies Noreika.

Noreika, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, pressed both sides about the terms of the agreement struck with U.S. Attorney David Weiss of Delaware, another Trump appointee, whom President Joe Biden kept on to oversee the case. She expressed clear concern about how two separate deals, one regarding the unpaid taxes and the other about a gun possession charge, potentially intersected, as well as her purview over them.

Noreika quizzed the lawyers about whether the gun charge would be diverted until Biden fulfilled certain terms. The agreement would have her act as an arbiter if he violated the deal over 24 months. She said that she did not believe that the judiciary would normally oversee such an agreement and that it was the responsibility of the executive branch to bring charges.

Biden’s lawyer, Chris Clark, said that because of tremendous political “Sturm and Drang” surrounding the case, that element of the agreement would help ensure it “wouldn’t become more politicized” if the government targeted Biden again in the future.

While Noreika said she understood his argument, she said she worried that there was no case law to necessarily support the terms of the agreement.

Noreika also said she worried that the agreement on the tax charges did not give her the authority to reject or modify the deal and that the gun charge agreement could shield Biden against further prosecution over his financial and tax issues.

Though Noreika said it was possible all of those terms could be adopted, she wanted both sides to give her more information about their reasoning for her to study further.

There were numerous points of disagreement and requests for clarification throughout the hearing, which had been expected to take a little over an hour but lasted well over three hours.

At one point, Noreika asked whether the investigation was ongoing, to which Weiss responded that it was but said he could not share any further details.

Noreika also raised a hypothetical, asking whether Biden could face charges of failing to register as a foreign agent and whether the agreement blocks his prosecution on such a charge. The defense said it believed the agreement would prohibit him from being charged, and the prosecution then disagreed.

Clark was overheard telling a prosecutor, “Then we’ll rip it up,” most likely in a reference to the plea deal, as they discussed the disagreement during a brief break before he eventually relented.

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/hunter-biden-expected-plead-guilty-criminal-tax-case-rcna96232