Aileen Cannon: The judge with Trump’s fate in her hands was appointed by him

A Florida district judge assigned to oversee Donald Trump’s classified documents case is attracting criticism given that it was Mr Trump himself who elevated her to the bench.

Aileen Cannon is the federal judge with the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida overseeing the Espionage Act and obstruction of justice case against Mr Trump, who’s charged with the illegal possession of classified documents at his Florida estate after leaving the White House in January 2021 and for impeding efforts by the US government to reclaim them.

According to the indictment, Mr Trump allegedly attempted to hide boxes of classified documents following a grand jury subpoena that ordered their return.

Mr Trump’s aide Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos de Oliveira were also indicted and have also moved to dismiss the charges against them. All men have pleaded not guilty.

If the former president is convicted, Judge Cannon will be tasked with handing down a sentence to the very man who nominated her to that position.

Mr Trump was charged with 37 felony counts related to the mishandling of presidential records, including highly sensitive national defence information, since his departure from the White House in January 2021.

On 1 August 2023, Mr Trump was indicted on four counts in the federal probe led by Mr Smith into Mr Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

He has insisted that he is “an innocent man” in angry statements and postings to Truth Social, alleging that he is the victim of “rabid wolves” and the “weaponisation” of the justice system by the “corrupt” Joe Biden administration, even as the indictment revealed photos of boxes of files stacked high in the glitzy ballrooms and bathrooms of his