Special counsel Jack Smith’s classified documents case against former President Donald Trump received a jolt of controversy when a certain judge got assigned to it.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, is facing some calls to recuse herself over past rulings tied to the documents matter, particularly one in favor of Trump’s request for a special master to weed out privileged materials the FBI seized from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, which got overturned by a federal appeals court.
As of press time, Cannon remains attached to the case, although the Miami Herald reported that Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman would preside over Trump’s expected arraignment in Miami on Tuesday and handle bond matters.
Last week, a federal grand jury indicted the former president on 37 counts, including alleged violations of the Espionage Act. Trump denies any wrongdoing, claiming he is being subject to a “witch hunt” as he runs again for the presidency. Walt Nauta, an aide to Trump, was also indicted in the documents case.
The chief clerk of the federal court in the Southern District of Florida told The New York Times that “normal procedures were followed” when Cannon was assigned the case, indicating that it was a random selection.
Trump announced his intent to nominate Cannon to be a federal judge in April 2020. At the time, she served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Florida. The White House said Cannon also had served as a law clerk to Judge Steven Colloton on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit after graduating magna cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School. The Senate approved Cannon’s nomination by a 56-21 vote, with 23 members not voting.
During her first couple of years on the bench, Cannon has made some rulings that have made headlines unrelated to Trump and his handling of documents after leaving office.
Cannon dealt an 18-month prison sentence to a man named Paul Hoeffer over death threats against then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and Chicago state attorney Kim Foxx in April 2022. The Palm Beach Post reported a federal prosecutor had been pressing for a nearly three-and-a-half-year sentence against Hoeffer. In another case, Cannon ordered a former police officer to spend 26 years in federal prison for trying to solicit sex from an underaged teenage boy.
But it was Cannon’s prior involvement in the Trump documents matter — punctuated by a rebuke from a panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals overturning her special master order in December — that has stirred debate on whether the judge will be impartial with a role that will help dictate such elements of a trial as jury selection and evidence.
Pointing to a section of U.S. Code that says a judge shall disqualify themselves if their “impartiality might reasonably be questioned,” Norman Eisen, who served as special counsel to President Barack Obama for ethics and government reform, said Cannon’s situation “clearly” fits that test. “She is obligated to recuse herself & if she doesn’t the 11th circuit will likely reassign sooner or later,” Eisen added in a tweet on Monday.
Under 28 USC 455(a) a judge shall disqualify themselves if their “impartiality might reasonably be questioned.”
Judge Cannon’s situation clearly fits that test
She is obligated to recuse herself & if she doesn’t the 11th circuit will likely reassign sooner or later (3/x) pic.twitter.com/Uqe747S8tc
— Norm Eisen (@NormEisen) June 12, 2023
Richard Painter, an ethics official in President George W. Bush’s White House, joined Eisen in making this argument, saying, “In light of the reversal on appeal of her prior rulings in this case, Judge Cannon now should recuse.”
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Matthew Whitaker, who served as acting attorney general under Trump, defended Cannon during an interview on Newsmax. “Contrary to what the Left wants you to believe, Judge Cannon is a very capable judge,” he said.
"I'm sure the judge is going to be very sympathetic to his request to extend it."
Former acting AG Matthew Whitaker [@MattWhitaker46] predicts that Judge Aileen Cannon will be fair to Donald Trump and extend the trial past the 2024 Election.
MORE: https://t.co/uPTI3VVxyX pic.twitter.com/HwV01ignFJ
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) June 12, 2023
Longtime Miami defense attorney Gustavo Lage told The Daily Wire that Cannon has “a very good pedigree” but noted that the judge’s relatively short time on the bench makes it hard to gauge her influence in the Trump case.
“If we are to look at what happened with the search warrant issue, we could reasonably believe she’s more pro-Trump than anti-Trump; although, I wouldn’t necessarily say that she is not going to be fair, or not going to call balls and strikes just because she is a Trump appointee,” he said.