Trump-appointed judge Aileen Cannon assigned to classified documents case: report

Judge Aileen Cannon will be assigned to oversee at least the initial stages of Donald Trump's classified documents case in Miami, ABC News reported Friday.

"Cannon's apparent assignment would add yet another unprecedented wrinkle to a case involving the first federal charges against a former president: Trump appointed Cannon to the federal bench in 2019, meaning that, if Trump is ultimately convicted, she would be responsible for determining the sentence – which may include prison time – for the man who elevated her to the role," the report explained.

The judge previously helped Trump impose a special master to sift through the documents from Mar-a-Lago. She was not only overruled by a higher court, but they went so far as to accuse her of flouting the law. The three-judge panel accused her of imposing things that have no relevance to the case.

Legal experts speaking to "Morning Joe" on MSNBC explained that her appointment could be due to her overseeing parts of the early stages of the documents investigation. She appointed a "special master" to review materials that were seized from Trump's Mar-a-Lago home.

Host Ari Melber explained that the news is coming from the PACER system, which is a public catalogue of federal court records. The Trump filing is assigned to a judge with Cannon's initials. Thought it's possible that she would oversee the arraignment, scheduled for Tuesday, but not the entire trial.

"Usually, when you start a federal case from scratch, there's a random assignment" of a judge, he said. "That's one of the many ways you assure impartiality. It's possible this is being lumped in with the prior proceedings because of the searches, etcetera, which means it wouldn't be the normal random process. It's also possible we don't know who's been assigned to oversee the trial, and this is for the Tuesday arraignment."

Former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) also said that Cannon's name wasn't the only one on the summons. Judge Bruce Reinhart was also included.

"It would be common in the federal system for a magistrate to handle the initial proceeding," said McCaskill. "But Ari is right, this may not be in Miami-Dade, this may end up in West Palm and it may be that because of the common practice of assigning a judge a case they have been involved in before, assuming they know the facts, and they're more familiar with everything that's gone on in the case, that may be why her name is on this.

"But I can imagine that there will be some pushing and pulling in the courtroom about her ability to go forward with this case because of the problems that she encountered making rulings in the last case. This would be a real blow, I think, to fairness if this woman ended up presiding over the trial."

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