'Kill case with kindness': Expert suspects motive behind Aileen Cannon's pro-Smith rulings

A recent spate of rulings by U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida Judge Aileen Cannon that appear to favor arguments made by special counsel Jack Smith should not lull anyone into believing she is taking her finger off the scale as she seeks to protect Donald Trump.

That is the opinion of attorney Philip Rotner who maintains that the Trump-appointed jurist read the tea leaves and realized she was in danger of being involuntarily removed from overseeing the classified documents trial of the former president, so she is changing her strategy.

In his column for the Bulwark, Rotner suggested Cannon is all too aware that her "bizarre rulings" — predominately in favor of the embattled Trump — have not only been the subject of ridicule but also have been piling up in such a way that the sheer volume could lead to her forced recusal by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.

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As the attorney explained, all the Florida judge has accomplished thus far is "to make herself a figure of near-universal ridicule. Cannon was inflicting more damage on herself than on Smith, whose case remained alive and well."

As Rotner sees it, the pro-DOJ rulings — including agreeing to keep witnesses identities under wraps — are an example of her killing Smith "with kindness," while also making sure she remains on the case so she can kill it at a later date.

"Cannon can’t enter an order of acquittal if she doesn’t stay on the case. Staying on the case is thus the single, essential condition necessary for Cannon to assure Trump’s acquittal," he wrote before adding, "If Cannon is determined to acquit Trump, the smart move would be for her to keep deciding every pre-trial motion in favor of Smith, not Trump, thus ensuring that she stays on the case, just where she needs to be to issue an order of acquittal at the close of Smith’s case."

According to Rotner, despite the recent favorable ruling by Cannon, Smith needs to seek her removal now before she finally sets a trial date.

"The risk of being rebuffed by the Eleventh Circuit is outweighed by the risk of allowing Cannon to engage in judicial rope-a-dope that would exhaust Smith’s case for Cannon’s removal until it is too late," he suggested before warning, "Smith may not be able to know exactly what Cannon will do. But he does know what she can do. And based on what she has done, that should be enough for him to act now."

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