A Trump judge under scrutiny
When Judge Aileen Cannon was tasked last spring with overseeing the prosecution of Donald Trump on charges of mishandling classified documents, she was already under fire.
Many legal analysts and Trump critics have attacked her for making a ruling early in the investigation that was favorable to him but was so legally questionable that an appeals court reprimanded her when she overturned the ruling.
Now Judge Cannon faces a series of decisions that will further test her legal acumen and provide an indication of how she views the case and its famous lead defendant.
The biggest decision facing the judge, who was appointed to the federal court by Trump in his final days as president, is when she will hold the trial. The start is currently scheduled for May 20, but will almost certainly be postponed.
How much she decides to delay — and whether she delays the trial until after the election — will be a sign of how much she plans to give in to Trump’s strategy of trying to run out the clock.
Trump is already set to go on trial in New York next month on charges of paying hush money to a porn star, but the timing of the other proceedings against him is up in the air, including the federal case accusing him of conspiring to overturn the case . the 2020 election and a case in state court in Georgia on similar allegations.
But there are also smaller decisions on Judge Cannon’s plate that will serve to shape perspectives on her handling of the case.
One concerns whether she will allow Trump’s lawyers to include in any of their public filings the names of nearly two dozen witnesses who could testify at the trial. Prosecutors for the special counsel, Jack Smith, have vehemently protested the move, saying it could expose witnesses to the same kinds of threats and intimidation that other participants in the series of legal proceedings against Trump have faced.
The other decision concerns a highly unusual request by Trump’s lawyers to see a classified government file detailing sensitive classified discovery material that prosecutors believe they have no right to see.
It seems increasingly likely that if Judge Cannon rules for Trump in any of these cases, Smith’s team could respond by filing an appeal for the first time since charges were filed in the case in June. Prosecutors have already shown their frustration with the judge, accusing her in recent lawsuits of making a “clear error” after she initially agreed to let Trump’s lawyers release the names of witnesses — a move they quickly reversed. had put on hold after the government complained .
A rough start
From the moment Judge Cannon was randomly assigned to the classified documents case, which she is overseeing at the federal courthouse in Fort Pierce, Florida, legal experts and others closely watching the proceedings have, rightly or wrongly, told her viewed with a skeptical eye.
Overseeing the criminal prosecution of a former president on explosive charges of illegally hoarding state secrets would have been a challenging task for even the most seasoned lawyer. And Judge Cannon, who is 43, came to the case with just three years on the bench and little experience in prosecuting criminal cases — let alone a trial that will hinge on the complexities of federal law that prohibits the use of secret arranges material and that will take place under global supervision.
But Judge Cannon did himself no favors by making a highly controversial decision during the early investigative phase of the case, long before charges were filed.
After the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private club and residence in Florida, for classified documents in August 2022, Judge Cannon appointed an independent arbitrator to find out whether the material collected by the agents was privileged and hidden from them had to be held. the hands of researchers.
While that decision wasn’t all that unusual, a second decision she made at the same time was virtually unheard of: By treating Trump with what seemed like a special favor, she essentially froze the documents case until after the work of the arbitrator, known as a special master, was done. completely.
The move contradicted the Justice Department’s repeated assertions that it was merely following the facts and the law in investigating Trump, and it earned Judge Cannon a stern rebuke from the federal appeals court presiding over her in Atlanta. A three-judge panel of the court not only unanimously reversed her decision, but also made a point of saying that she appeared to have granted “a special exception” for Trump, in defiance of “our nation’s fundamental principle that our law applies to everyone. ”
It may be worth noting at this point that Trump has spared Judge Cannon the relentless attacks he has leveled at most of the lawyers involved in his three other criminal cases and several of his civil trials.
In fact, Trump has barely said a word about her on social media, on the campaign trail or during a visit to the courthouse. That’s a far cry from the verbal attacks he has leveled against almost every other judge who heard his cases, whom he has at various turns called “corrupt and radical,” “a radical Obama hack” and “a Trump-hating judge.” boy.”
Judge Cannon is expected to settle the timing of the trial next Friday, when she has scheduled a hearing in Fort Pierce to set a new date for the proceedings. She will wait for the final batch of court papers from Trump’s legal team tomorrow before deciding how to deal with the witnesses.
As for the dispute over granting Trump access to the government’s sealed discovery papers, this has been fully briefed and discussed with the defense and prosecution in separate court hearings. She could make a decision at any time.
Your questions
We ask readers what they want to know about the Trump cases: the indictment, the proceedings, the key players or whatever. You can submit your question to us by completing this form.
What is the crime in the hush money case involving Stormy Daniels? Did Trump use money donated to his campaign? – Camille Olcese, Lawrence, Kansas
Alan: Trump has been charged with multiple counts of falsifying business records — invoices, ledger entries and checks — to disguise the nature of payments that went from his lawyer and personal fixer, Michael Cohen, to Stormy Daniels. Essentially, he is accused of using the false documentation to cover up his relationship with Daniels in an attempt to win the presidency. Prosecutors say this amounts to campaign finance violations.
Where is each criminal case?
Trump is at the center of at least four separate criminal investigations, at both the state and federal level, into matters related to his business and political career. Here’s where each case currently stands.