Chiding Jack Smith’s team’s efforts to have a “meaningful conferral” with the defense team “to be wholly lacking in substance and professional courtesy,” Florida federal judge Aileen Cannon rejected without prejudice the Special Counsel’s motion to limit Corpulent Cantaloupe Donald Trump’s ability to target and threaten FBI agents.

As USA Today notes, Smith’s team and Trump’s team are supposed to confer before submitting non-emergency motions to the Court so opposing counsel can concur or voice opposition which is supposed to be summarized in the motion.  (See footnote on Page 1 on an earlier filing here for an example:  “The Special Counsel’s Office has indicated, without explanation, that they ‘cannot agree’ to this application.”) Cannon says Smith’s team did not do so, therefore the rejected the motion until the communication is sufficient, and the motion was rejected but with the ability to re-file still intact.

That wasn’t enough for Trump’s team, though: “That Smith is, once again, attacking President Trump’s protected campaign speech is conclusively established by the fact that the Special Counsel’s Office attached a campaign email to the Motion,” Team Trump wrote in a motion to reject the Special Counsel’s request and sanction Jack Smith’s office before concluding, “For the reasons stated herein, the Court should strike the Motion, make civil contempt findings as to all government attorneys who participated in the decision to file the Motion without meaningful conferral, and impose sanctions after holding an evidentiary hearing regarding the purpose and intent behind the Office’s decision to willfully disregard required procedures.”  Cannon rejected the sanction request.