- Judge Aileen Cannon on Tuesday delayed Donald Trump’s classified documents case indefinitely.
- Legal experts and political strategists say it’s the latest win the Trump-appointed judge has handed him.
- It’s also the latest example of one of Trump’s cases being delayed potentially in his favor.
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US District Judge Aileen Cannon handed former President Donald Trump yet another legal win when she delayed his classified documents case indefinitely on Tuesday.
Cannon, who was appointed by Trump, had previously scheduled jury selection for the case to begin on May 20. However, in her Tuesday order, she scheduled more than a dozen additional hearings and deadlines for lawyers through July so that she could rule on “myriad and interconnected pre-trial and CIPA issues,” referencing the Classified Information Procedures Act, before the trial could begin.
Trump has been charged with 37 counts, including 31 alleged violations of the Espionage Act for “willful retention of national defense information,” related to his handling of classified documents taken to his Mar-a-Lago club after leaving office. He has pleaded not guilty.
Legal experts and political strategists who spoke with Business Insider said the move wasn’t a surprise since she has repeatedly sided with Trump on issues that have come up during the case’s proceedings, throwing a wrench in special counsel Jack Smith’s case. Smith’s office declined to comment on the latest order.
“With Judge Canon reversing her own decision today, there is a high likelihood the case will get pushed out past the election,” litigation and appeals attorney Katie Charleston, whose background in jury trials includes extensive experience reviewing government contracts and procedures, told BI.
If that’s the case, and Trump is elected President again in November’s presidential election, it’s possible he could get rid of each of the cases brought by the Justice Department — meaning he could dodge this trial entirely.
It’s just the latest legal win for Trump in the classified documents case handed to him by Cannon. Previously, she ruled that a special master should review the classified documents seized by the FBI from Mar-A-Lago, though the decision was ultimately reversed in a blistering opinion by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
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Cannon has also previously denied the special counsel’s request to hide the names of potential witnesses in the case, though legal experts earlier this year told BI that decision would also probably be overturned on appeal. Last month, Cannon agreed to the prosecutor’s request to redact witness names, per the Associated Press, though she refused to prevent witness statements from being disclosed in pretrial motions.
CNN’s chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid pointed out that Cannon’s critics have questioned whether her favorable rulings to Trump are due to bias, inexperience, or “analysis paralysis.” The US District Court of Southern Florida did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Judge Cannon has ruled in Trump’s favor at almost every possible turn, so I’m not surprised that she delayed the trial indefinitely,” Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor, told BI following the latest trial delay. “She is inexperienced and seems in over her head. She’s made a number of bizarre rulings that aren’t supported by logic or the law, and she has already been overturned by the 11th Circuit multiple times.”
Rahmani added that the delay is a significant benefit to the former president, “especially in the middle of another trial and the presidential campaign,” making this ruling “yet another win for Trump in South Florida.”
Ty Cobb, a former Trump White House attorney, told CNN on Tuesday that Cannon’s latest decision was “a combination of bias and incompetence.”
“I think it was always her objective, frankly, to prevent this from going to trial,” he said.
On the political front, Cannon’s decision galvanizes Trump’s allies, according to Charlie Kolean, the chief strategist at RED PAC, which supports Republican candidates, including Trump. Kolean told BI that to his supporters, the decision “proves Trump’s point” that the prosecution is “a political witch hunt,” indicating that Trump’s supporters generally see the ruling as evidence that the law is on Trump’s side.
While many legal experts have suggested that Cannon has offered Trump favorable treatment throughout the proceedings, the confidential information at hand in the case does require careful consideration, which means such delays are to be expected, according to attorney and legal analyst Tre Lovell.
But regardless of her intention, it’s still a win for Trump, whose legal strategy in his four criminal cases is “delay, delay, delay,” according to Doron Kalir, a professor at Cleveland State University College of Law.
It’s just the latest example of one of Trump’s trials getting delayed. The January 6 trial is on hold while the Supreme Court decides on presidential immunity, and the Georgia case was delayed due to allegations of a romantic relationship between DA Fani Willis and lead prosecutor Nathan Wade.
Trump’s attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
In light of Cannon’s latest delay, Kalir said it was not surprising given her prior actions on the case.
He also noted that Trump’s lawyers have succeeded in delaying three of the four cases against him — the exception being the hush-money case which is currently at trial in New York — calling it “quite an impressive record!”