It is reported that Special Counsel Jack Smith has had a meeting with Judge Aileen Cannon in a meeting that will take place behind closed doors.

The reports state that the January 31 meeting that Smith, who has filed two indictments against Donald Trump, will meet with Judge Aileen Cannon despite the former president nor his legal representatives not being present for the meeting, as Newsweek reported.

Trump is facing a total of eight additional accusations in addition to the 32 counts of improper retention of national security secrets that he is now facing in Florida. These charges include making false statements and conspiring to hide them.

He asserts that all of the allegations made against him are politically driven and denials all of the allegations.

Meeting Details

The "ex parte" hearing that will take place on January 31 is related to objections that were submitted by attorneys representing Trump.

In these objections, the attorneys have requested access to papers that are not available to the public due to the sensitive information that they contain.

In a request that was submitted in December of the previous year, the attorneys for Trump stated that they "seek access to these filings that is restricted to attorneys' eyes only so that we can challenge [Smith's] assertions in adversarial proceedings."

Ex parte meetings are held without the participation of parties who are affected by the action and without the use of a transcript. This means that the specifics of the conversations that take place between Cannon and the special counsel will not be made public.

It is possible that the hearing may have substantial repercussions for the trial due to the fact that the Justice Department (DOJ) is likely to appeal the decision of Cannon, regardless of whether it is issued in favor of Trump in its entirety or in part.

The appeal would be one that is interlocutory, which means that more action or decision would need to be taken prior to the beginning of the trial. The trial date, which is now set for May 20 of this year, can be pushed back as a result of this.

Potential Appeal

Former United States Attorney Joyce Vance stated that any appeal from Smith's office will be handled "fairly quickly" in the event that Cannon does not agree with the case presented by the prosecution.

"While we won't learn much if anything about what happens when the Special Counsel's team sits down with Judge Cannon, we'll find out if they object to anything that happened fairly quickly, in the form of a notice of appeal to the 11th Circuit," Vance said.

Reports indicate that the key to the case and upcoming hearing is the Classified Information Procedures Act.

This, according to the DOJ website, "applies both when the government intends to use classified information in its case-in-chief as well as when the defendant seeks to use classified information in his/her defense."