Damning Report on Judge Cannon Reveals She’s Prone to Exploitation

Judge Aileen Cannon, who is presiding over Donald Trump’s classified documents case, may be in over her head due to a serious lack of experience, according to a new report from CNN.

The news outlet spoke to 10 attorneys who had cases before Cannon in the Southern District of Florida—and they painted a picture of a judge with limited trial experience, who’s prone to getting bogged down by irrelevant legal questions and struggles to manage her docket of cases efficiently.

Before Trump appointed her to the federal bench in 2020, Cannon was an attorney in the Justice Department for seven years and only took part in four criminal trials. In her four years as a judge, she hasn’t presided over many criminal cases either—and attorneys said it shows.

“She just seems overwhelmed by the process,” one lawyer told CNN. Other lawyers said that she lets small, marginal issues overwhelm the major details of cases. She also has rejected joint motions, agreed upon by both parties in a case with no dispute.

“You can’t assume that just because there’s agreement between the parties that she will go along,” one lawyer said, describing her as “incredibly hands on.”

“She wants to be the decision-maker of everything,” the lawyer said.

Defense attorneys that spoke to CNN described her as tough on defendants and notoriously strict on sentencing. But in Trump’s classified documents case, she has given him a long leash, which has not gone unnoticed.

“She’s certainly not sympathetic to most defendants, and she’s certainly playing a different game with the current defendant before her,” one lawyer told CNN regarding Trump.

Whether Cannon’s odd handling of Trump’s case is due to inexperience or a deliberate attempt to help Trump, he seems to be happy with her.