How Judge Aileen Cannon could weaken the case against Trump

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, randomly selected to oversee the federal case involving former President Donald Trump’s retention of classified documents, has set alarm bells ringing.

The judge was appointed to the bench by Trump and has repeatedly ruled in his favor in a related case – involving challenges to the FBI’s raid on Mar-a-Lago. Many of her decisions in that case were subsequently overruled by Florida’s Court of Appeals.

Now, NBC News reported, she’s the one responsible for making decisions that could potentially weaken the case against Trump.

Cannon is responsible for guiding the case, deciding when it goes to trial, overseeing jury selection and ruling on what evidence can be presented.

"This will be the most consequential and most watched prosecution in American history," Stephen Gillers, a legal ethics professor at New York University School of Law told NBC News.

“Will enough of the public accept the verdict, whatever it is? Or will they see any result as political? Answers to those questions are as important as the verdict."

Pretrial motions, which would decided by Cannon, will be central to the eventual outcome of the trial.

Among the expected decisions that could be potential hurdles to his prosecution are:

• If notes made by Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran can be used as evidence. The notes detail discussions between Trump and the lawyer about obstructing the FBI’s effort to find documents, and even a suggestion of destroying them. But Trump’s team argues they are covered by attorney-client privilege and should not be admissible.
• Cannon will also rule on how classified documents can be used in the trial – and how quickly. NBC News notes that, under the Classified Information Processing Act, their use would have to go through a separate discovery process to make sure national secrets are not exposed. It’s expected Trump’s lawyers will try to delay that process.
• There’s also the question of public trust in the case, given Cannon’s history.

Ryan Goodman, another NYU School of Law professor, told NBC News, “The problem is that she has demonstrated such bias in her prior rulings. Does her holding the case create damage to public confidence in the courts?”