" It tells us Jack Smith is playing hardball"

From Opening Arguments:

Trump's valet and co-defendant in SDFL, filed a motion to continue (that is, delay) the Section 2 CIPA conference scheduled for this Friday, July 14.

[...]

Ordinarily - and I can't stress this enough - these kinds of motions are beyond routine. If opposing counsel can't be at a status conference, you just reschedule the conference out of convenience, because someday YOUR lawyer will be out of town.

AND a Section 2 CIPA conference is largely ministerial - but is also the key first step to moving the case along expeditiously.

So, the basis for Nauta's motion is that his Trump-appointed & paid-for lawyer, Stan Woodward (who also represents a potential witness against both defendants!) isn't available this Friday.

All of that seemed kind of fishy to the DOJ. [...] Also, moving this conference & slowing things down doesn't particularly help Nauta, but it's at the core of Trump's strategy (to the extent that he has one).

[...]

It's still a surprise to see Jack Smith coming out swinging. Less than two hours later, the government filed its opposition to Nauta's motion. It makes two arguments.

First, Nauta has his own local counsel & his Trump-appointed lackey (Woodward) could probably appear via Zoom if necessary. And second, even though Woodward hasn't yet gotten his expedited security clearance from the FBI yet.

[...]

[T]hat's because Woodward himself has refused to fill out the damn form (SF-86) despite "having been put in contact with the Litigation Security Group... three-and-a-half weeks ago."

[...]

We still think it's likely the motion will be granted & the conference moved - and not just because the motion is pending before Judge Aileen Cannon, FSW.

[...]

Win or lose, this is an interesting marker for the DOJ to lay down. It tells us Jack Smith is playing hardball & it (maybe) suggests he thinks there's something fishy going on with Trump paying for his co-defendant's lead counsel - who really ought to have flipped by now.

[...]

P.S. In Nauta's motion to continue, Woodward says he opposed the CIPA conference.

  Opening Arguments Twitter

To wit:

In response, the DOJ has politely suggested that maybe his brief just omitted the word "not." That would be unbearably stupid & is therefore probably true.

To wit:

The government also suggests that Woodward... forgot... to mention the scheduling conflict during their repeated phone calls.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.