'She shouldn't preside': St. Louis newspaper editorial slams Judge Cannon for 'clearly playing for Team Trump'

The editorial board of the St. Louis Post Dispatch is calling out Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon for persistently ruling in favor of former President Donald Trump, even when such rulings fly in the face of established precedent.

In an editorial published this week, the Post Dispatch argued that Cannon "should not preside" over the case involving Trump's improper handling of top-secret government documents that he kept at his Mar-a-Lago resort, and they went so far as to argue that she "is clearly playing for Team Trump."

They note that she not only went beyond established precedent by granting Trump's request for a special master to sift through the documents to address executive privilege concerns, but also overruled the special master when he made a decision that was adverse to Trump's interests.

"On Thursday, she ruled that Trump could ignore a decision from the special master — whom she appointed at Trump’s request — that would have required Trump’s lawyers to either prove his false claim that the FBI planted documents, or quit claiming it," the editors write. "In other words, said Cannon, Trump is free to continue muddying the case with innuendo without having to back it up."

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All of this, the editors argue, make her unfit to continue handling a case that the DOJ has asserted has significant national security ramifications.

"The Justice Department should ask Cannon to recuse herself, and if she refuses, it should appeal for reassignment of the case," they conclude. "This is too important to leave on the docket of someone whose loyalty is clearly to Trump instead of the law."