'Interference': Aileen Cannon accused of trying to hinder Senate's probe of Cabinet picks

Judge Aileen Cannon has triggered outrage among legal experts for purporting to block the release of special counsel Jack Smith's reports on the criminal cases against President-elect Donald Trump, given that she likely surrendered jurisdiction of the classified documents case when she dismissed it and the appeal went to the 11th Circuit. Some have suggested she knows her order was illegal and just wanted to create enough delay for Trump officials to take office and block release of the report themselves.

But the lawlessness goes beyond that, national security expert Marcy Wheeler wrote for her "Emptywheel" blog — Cannon is also interfering with the Senate's constitutional powers over Trump nominations.

In fact, she argued, Trump's own legal team accidentally admitted as such: "In the letter to Merrick Garland signed by aspiring Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and PADAG designee Emil Bove (whom WaPo says will serve as Acting DAG until Blanche is confirmed), complaining about the report, they state explicitly that release of the report would 'interfere with upcoming confirmation hearings' (and, apparently, reveal damning new details about DOGE [sic] head Elon Musk’s efforts to interfere in a criminal investigation)" — the reasoning for this being that the report is supposedly biased and unfair.

"Except what Cannon is suppressing consists of sworn testimony from some of Trump’s closest advisors," wrote Wheeler. "The damning testimony I keep raising, seemingly debunking Kash Patel’s claim (cited in search warrant affidavits) that Trump had 'declassified everything' he took home with him almost certainly comes from Eric Herschmann, installed in the White House by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner."

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In particular, she noted, a redacted witness in the report provides evidence Patel was lying in this claim.

This is now moot for the purpose of prosecuting Trump, but, she argued, still highly relevant for the Senate Judiciary Committee, led by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and ranking member Dick Durbin (D-IL), because Patel is nominated to be Director of the FBI, and this allegation is a serious mark against his character if this redacted witness can be identified by Congress and corroborated.

The bottom line, Wheeler concluded, is that "Aileen Cannon has, thus far, said that Grassley and Durbin can’t do their job. They can’t consider Kash Patel’s conduct in an Espionage Act investigation in their review of Kash’s suitability to be FBI Director," unlike the other Trump nominees who had their background checks reviewed by the relevant committees. "Durbin may well have standing to complain about Cannon’s interference in his constitutional duties. It’s high time he considered making the cost of Cannon’s interference clear."