No, Cannon did not quit as judge in Donald Trump classified documents case | Fact check

Joedy McCreary, USA TODAY
·4 min read
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The claim: Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed herself from Trump’s documents case

An Aug. 23 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) claims the judge assigned to former President Donald Trump's classified documents case in Florida has quit.

"Aileen Cannon Trump's hand-picked crony judge Officially dismissed herself from Trump's case on classified documents (sic)," reads the post.

A similar version of the post claiming she was ordered to disqualify herself from the case was shared more than 200 times in less than a week before it was deleted.

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Our rating: False

Court documents show Cannon is still the judge in the case and making decisions about it. There is no credible evidence to suggest she removed herself from the case.

Cannon remains listed as presiding judge

Trump was charged in Florida in June with dozens of federal crimes related to his mishandling of classified documents he took with him after leaving the White House in 2021. Cannon, a Trump-nominated U.S. district judge, was assigned in June to preside over the case.

But contrary to the post, there is no evidence to suggest she recused herself. Days after the Facebook post was shared, Cannon was still listed as the presiding judge on an Aug. 25 court document related to the case.

Fact check: No, photo does not show Judge Aileen Cannon

The deleted post appears to distort analysis from former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner, who said she could be asked to recuse herself if she continues to make rulings he described as questionable, Newsweek reported Aug. 20.

The process of removing her would start with a motion from the Department of Justice and special counsel Jack Smith asking for her recusal, Dave Aronberg, the state attorney in Palm Beach County, Florida, told USA TODAY.

That motion would then appear among the documents filed in the case online. There is no such motion on that list of documents, and there have been no reputable reports that one has been filed.

It’s rare for a judge to be forced from a case, Jonathan Turley, a professor of public interest law at George Washington University, told USA TODAY in an email.

Even when a case is reversed in its entirety or a judge makes an error in constitutional law, he said, it is usually sent back to that judge after appeal.

“It’s not enough that you’re appointed by the litigant in front of you, or that you make rulings that are not consistent with the law that gets you overturned,” Aronberg said. “You have got to show more.”

Aronberg said Smith would have to show that Cannon displayed pervasive bias and pointed out a clause that requires self-disqualification if a judge’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned.

“It’s got to be so extreme as to display clear inability to render fair judgment,” he said. “So we’re talking about really high burdens here to show.”

USA TODAY previously debunked a false claim that Cannon had been fired.

USA TODAY reached out to Angela Noble, the court administrator for the clerk of court for the Southern District of Florida, for comment but did not immediately receive a response. Cannon did not immediately return a phone call placed by USA TODAY to her chambers.

USA TODAY also reached out to the social media user who shared the post but did not immediately receive a response.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: No evidence judge recused herself in Trump documents case | Fact check