Rulings highlight how Trump’s classified documents case could have gone differently had it been brought in DC

Before indicting Donald Trump last year for allegedly mishandling classified documents, federal prosecutors had to decide where to bring the charges: Washington, DC, or Florida.

Before indicting Donald Trump last year for allegedly mishandling classified documents, federal prosecutors had to decide where to bring the charges: Washington, DC, or Florida. Ultimately, they charged the former president in Florida, a decision that has proven to be a fateful one — underscored by the vastly different approaches taken by DC judges as compared to the federal judge now presiding over the criminal case in Florida. Those approaches became apparent in the past week as opinions were unsealed from two DC federal judges indicating how much more quickly and harshly for Trump the case might have played out had it remained in Washington. And over the long weekend, the federal judge overseeing Trump’s case now in Florida has been thrust into a new debate about a gag order for the former president — an issue judges in DC already tackled. In the recently unsealed opinions, DC District Court Chief Judge James “Jeb” Boasberg and his predecessor, Judge Beryl Howell, demonstrate a deep skepticism to arguments by Trump and his co-defendants on questions of attorney-client privilege and grand jury secrecy that Judge Aileen Cannon has spent months deliberating over in Florida. Though it’s been nearly a year since special counsel Jack Smith indicted Trump for mishandling classified documents, the case remains stalled amid Cannon’s reluctance to rule on issues before her and appears unlikely to go to trial before the November election.