David Harbach, an attorney associated with the legal team of special counsel Jack Smith, offered a distinct legal viewpoint that elicited Judge Aileen Cannon’s dissent. Cannon conveyed her discontent regarding the court proceedings’ perceived lack of efficiency. The judgment mentioned above was linked to a sequence of proceedings conducted in Florida regarding Carlos De Oliveira and Walt Nauta, co-defendants of former President Donald Trump, in the Mar-a-Lago records case. Throughout the course of these proceedings, Mr. Trump put forth an argument predicated on the presence of a conflict of interest.

Harbach has filed motions against De Oliveira and Nauta, co-defendants with Trump in the alleged mismanagement of classified documents, according to an article in The Epoch Times. The attorneys representing De Oliveira and Nauta are accused of having conflicts of interest, which may hinder their ability to present a proper defense for their clients, according to these motions.

During the concurrent hearings, Harbach posited that the ethical quandary surrounding the legal representation of both individuals stemmed from the fact that the attorneys had previously advised three potential witnesses in the case, despite the fact that they were no longer representing them.

As stated by The Times:

“Harbach pointed out that this meant Mr. Irving would not be able to call the character or credibility of his three former clients into question during cross-examinations, his argument did not go smoothly. He tripped over his words as he presented the new argument, which was shut down by the defense.”

In the hearing with Mr. Nauta that followed, Harbach made the same argument. “Saying the lawyer would not be able to stand up and attack a witness’s credibility and character in defense of his client, the defense immediately seized upon it, stalling the proceeding.”

Subsequently, Judge Cannon expressed her displeasure and verbally criticized Harbach for citing three cases from distinct judicial jurisdictions outside the 11th that could not be used as precedents. She further stated that the nature of Mr. Harbach’s request regarding whether or not she should forbid the attorneys from questioning their erstwhile clients remained ambiguous.

Julie Kelly, an independent journalist and political analyst, stated, “Today, in the case involving classified documents, Judge Cannon delivered a resounding defeat to the opposition of Jack Smith.” Smith is striving to neutralize defense counsel by means of the “Garcia” hearing. During the course of the proceedings today, they made efforts to revise their argument. She declined to acknowledge its receipt. An exemplar hero.

I’ll have more on this soon but Jack Smith’s team got slapped HARD today by Judge Cannon in classified docs case. Smith is trying to disqualify defense counsel per “Garcia” hearing. They tried to change their argument during proceedings today. She was having none of it. Hero. pic.twitter.com/drPlNTeD1i

— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) October 13, 2023

Contradictions between Harbach’s submissions and his actual argument appear to be the primary source of contention; Cannon remarked, “That is an entirely different argument.” Harbach attempted to negotiate with the magistrate on this matter.

Axios reports that, in the end, Cannon ordered the postponement of a hearing concerning De Oliviera’s comprehension of potential conflicts of interest with his attorney.

The judge then delivered the bad news to Smith’s team: “I do want to admonish the government for frankly wasting the court’s time.”

The behavior of Smith’s office reportedly “disappointed” Cannon, as reported by the Washington Post. assault the Smith group.