Trump case assigned to judge who faced criticism over her ruling in his favor in Mar-a-Lago search
Associated PressST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The historic federal criminal case against former President Donald Trump has been assigned to a judge he appointed who faced blistering criticism over her decision to grant his request for an independent arbiter to review documents obtained during an FBI search of his Florida estate. A person familiar with the development confirmed Friday that the case was assigned to Judge Aileen Cannon, a former federal prosecutor who was nominated to the bench by Trump in 2020 and sits in Fort Pierce, about an hour’s drive north of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence. Given the reversal of Cannon’s ruling last year, “there already appears to be a fair ground for disqualification because the public might reasonably question her impartiality, even absent an evidentiary basis for alleging or finding personal bias or prejudice,” said University of Miami law professor Anthony Alfieri, the founding director of its Center for Ethics and Public Service. Her opposing counsel in that case, longtime Miami defense attorney Richard Klugh, described Cannon as “very bright and talented” and fair to the defense.