Report Aileen Cannon to Oversee Donald Trump Case Sparks Backlash

Donald Trump's upcoming federal criminal case on obstruction and espionage act charges could be overseen by the controversial judge who'd previously sought to limit investigators' ability to view evidence in the case. And the former president's opponents are none too happy about it.

On Thursday, the former president announced on his social media platform Truth Social that he had been informed of his indictment on a series of federal charges related to a sweeping probe into allegations he'd illegally removed classified information from his time in the White House and, later, attempted to obstruct a federal investigation into the alleged crimes.

The probe, led by special counsel Jack Smith, involved the interview of numerous current and former Trump associates as well as the examination of multiple pieces of relevant evidence and recordings detailing the contents of the documents, some of which required significant levels of security clearance to view.

However, Smith's team almost was unable to view a substantial part of that evidence. And he will now face the prospect of prosecuting a case under the judge who was integral in attempts to block them.

Friday morning, ABC News and other outlets reported Aileen Cannon—a Trump appointee—would be overseeing the case against the president, sparking concerns from critics who feared she would be too lenient while deliberating against the individual who famously appointed her to the post.

Newsweek has reached out both to Cannon's office and the Department of Justice to confirm the news. But even unverified reports of her assignment were enough to spark significant backlash.

During Trump's countersuit against the federal government in 2022 intended to stall the investigation, Cannon oversaw a process in which Trump's legal team pursued the appointment of a "special master" to review the evidence in the case to determine what would be admissible in court.

Cannon paused the investigation and later, appointed Trump's choice to conduct the review, only for the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit to reverse Cannon's order after finding she'd wrongly exercised jurisdiction over the case, leading to the dismissal of Trump's lawsuit.

Some feared Cannon—whom Trump allegedly specifically sought out to oversee his initial lawsuit—would give Trump a similar level of deference if allowed to preside over the larger case.

"If Aileen Cannon is allowed to oversee this case, Trump's criminal prosecution will be prolonged into the general election because she can be expected to issue legally unsupported opinion after opinion, requiring the Eleventh Circuit to reverse her as it has done before," former Democratic Congressman Mondaire Jones tweeted upon the news.

"Let's hope this is temporary," Ron Filipkowski, a popular Trump opponent on social media, tweeted. "Very temporary."

Some experts believe it likely will be a temporary arrangement, however.

After the news, Joyce White Vance—a University of Alabama law professor and an MSNBC contributor—tweeted there is legal precedent establishing the court could order "reassignment" for a judge in instances where they lean so heavily for a defendant that their objectivity has been called into question by the greater public.

Given behavior in her prior case involving Trump has already attracted questions of bias from the public, Vance wrote, it seems likely the DOJ could challenge her participation in the case.

And in all likelihood, they would win that challenge.

"This is persuasive authority that Judge Cannon must step aside if the case falls to her as a permanent assignment," she wrote. "Her court & certainly the 11th won't tolerate the damage it would do to their credibility if she failed to voluntarily recuse."

"It is not clear Cannon is permanently assigned to the case," she added. "If she is, it's extremely unlikely it stays with her and as a last resort, DOJ will challenge her participation and win."