'Terrible ruling': Experts call Trump judge a 'partisan hack' after special master decision

Judge Aileen Cannon received harsh criticism on Thursday after her ruling on a special master to review the documents seized at Mar-a-Lago.

Cannon appointed retired Judge Raymond Dearie as the special master.

Former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance wrote, "Judge Cannon appoints a special master & refuses to lift the injunction prohibiting DOJ from using classified documents to further the criminal investigation, also impeding intelligence community review of the damage Trump has done."

"Terrible ruling," Vance added.

Former Mueller prosecutor Andrew Weissmann wrote, "Judge Cannon is a partisan hack: she says it is 'disputed' that the documents are classified, but Trump never said in court he declassified them and submitted no evidence, so the only evidence before her is that they are and are so marked. She really is totally in the tank here."

"And her Special Master Order is a study in stupidity: she divides the world into Presidential Records and personal records, but there are likely a host of govt records that are not presidential records (e.g. agency records). She makes no provision for those," Weissmann wrote. "So infuriating."

He described the ruling as "both a stupid and profoundly partisan piece of work."

"Her order does not seriously grapple with the issues raised by DOJ, particularly the way in which her order injures national security," former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti wrote. "DOJ positioned this as well as possible for appeal."

Mariotti summed up the judge's position as "former president's get special treatment."

That was also noticed by Harvard Law's Laurence Tribe, who wrote, "she ends her denial of a stay by saying (in effect) former presidents are entitled to special treatment."

Tribe, one of the nation's foremost constitutional law experts, said the ruling was "Judge Cannon’s bid for permanent ignominy."

"Hard to imagine Cannon really expects to get away with this garbage, but she evidently thinks the Eleventh Circuit is in the tank with her," Tribe added. "Only they can prove her wrong."

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