Legal Expert Accuses Judge Cannon Of ‘Ridiculous’ Moves In Trump’s Classified Docs Case

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Federal Judge Aileen Cannon, who was originally nominated to the federal judiciary by Donald Trump himself when the ex-president was still in power, is facing continued criticism over the manner in which she is handling Trump’s current criminal case accusing him of the mishandling of classified documents.

Documents at issue were recovered — including through a judicially authorized search — from Trump’s Florida resort Mar-a-Lago, and at least in public (as opposed to the courtroom), Trump has spoken openly about having had government-originating documents in the first place. But he insists that he had ample legal leeway to hold onto the materials.

This time, Cannon pushed out — by a month — a deadline for Trump’s defense team to provide a list of experts that the ex-president’s team may bring forward at the trial, assuming that it takes place. Separately, Cannon had already dumped the previous scheduling for the trial, delaying it indefinitely — though pushing it beyond this year’s election could culminate with putting the case on ice indefinitely if Trump wins the face-off.

“I guess there are not deadlines when the Judge refuses to set a trial date. This is increasingly ridiculous,” said former federal prosecutor Joyce White Vance on social media amid the latest developments. Vance was a U.S. Attorney during ex-President Barack Obama’s time in office.

Trump’s other federal criminal case is also significantly delayed. Accused (by the same special prosecutor) of conspiring to undercut the 2020 presidential election results, Trump is claiming that he holds wide-ranging protections by mere virtue of serving as president that should stop the case. Observers are now awaiting a U.S. Supreme Court decision on Trump’s claims of immunity, which many have suggested would provide wildly inappropriate legal reach to the presidency.