In a shockingly competent move, Florida federal court Judge Aileen Cannon has rejected the motions to dismiss the case filed by Trump co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira.  De Oliveira sought to have his charges of obstruction and making false statements removed, or as an alternative, he sought a “bill of particulars” to further spell out the alleged criminal acts.  Cannon found no basis for those claims, saying the charges were backed by evidence presented by Special Counsel Jack Smith and that there was sufficient detail for De Oliveira’s defense.

While Cannon also dismissed Nauta’s claims, she seemed a bit snarky in her response saying, “The above summary, not exhaustive in scope, lends support to Nauta’s observation that the term ‘corruptly’ in § 1512 is subject to different, somewhat amorphous formulations about ‘wrongfulness” and ‘unlawfulness’—the net effect of which is to engender legitimate questions (some might say even confusion) about the definition of the term in the realm of obstruction and related crimes.

“Notwithstanding these reasonable questions about the definition of the term ‘corruptly,’ ” she continued, “Nauta’s as-applied vagueness challenge fails under existing law. First, the Eleventh Circuit rejected a vagueness challenge to the term ‘corruptly’ in § 1512(b), having little trouble concluding that the term ‘corrupt’ provides adequate notice so long as it is defined as being
‘motivated by an improper purpose.'”