Judge ignored calls to decline Trump documents case

What happened

Aileen Cannon, the federal judge overseeing Donald Trump's classified documents case, rejected requests from two other Florida judges that she step down from the Trump case and allow a more experienced jurist with less baggage to step in instead, The New York Times said Thursday.

Who said what

Cannon, appointed by Trump in late 2020, was approached last year by two "more experienced colleagues on the federal bench in Florida" who encouraged her to "consider whether it would be better if she were to decline the high-profile case," the Times said. Cannon has "scant trial experience and had previously shown unusual favor to Mr. Trump."

"For context," said Steve Benen at MSNBC, one of the jurists who approached Cannon was Cecilia Altonaga, the chief judge in the Southern District of Florida and a George W. Bush appointee. Altonaga reportedly told Cannon it would look bad to accept the case after a conservative appellate panel had forcefully reversed her decision to side with Trump in a pre-indictment challenge. Overall, her "supervision of the case has alarmed legal experts on both sides of the aisle," The Hill said.

What next?

Cannon is "not subject to the authority of her district court elders" and can ignore their advice, the Times said. She has "indefinitely postponed the trial" even though prosecutors and Trump's lawyers "had told her they could be ready to start this summer."

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