Bye, bye Aileen
Judge Cannon’s dismissal of Trump’s documents case is likely to be overturned — and if it is, she'll get the boot
Judge Aileen Cannon ran her courtroom in Fort Pierce, Florida, like a massage parlor for one of Jeffrey Epstein’s best friends, and on Monday she wrapped up her special service when she dismissed all charges against Donald Trump in his trial for stealing and mishandling classified documents and obstructing the government’s attempts to recover them. Trump initially faced 31 felony counts of violating the Espionage Act, five counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice, and one count of making false statements. Cannon dismissed the case on procedural grounds, without ever considering the mountain of incriminating evidence against Trump:
More than 100 top-secret documents, including one containing nuclear secrets, were seized by the FBI in a search of Trump’s hotel/club/residence, Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida in August of 2022.
Another tranche of more than 30 classified documents Trump had turned over to the Department of Justice in response to a subpoena.
Surveillance video shows Mar-a-Lago employees moving boxes containing classified documents from room to room in Mar-a-Lago a day before DOJ officials showed up to serve the subpoena.
Testimony from Mar-a-Lago employees that the boxes of classified documents were moved at the behest of the former president.
The list goes on, but you get the picture. Days before he left office in 2021, Donald Trump illegally removed from his White House residence hundreds of boxes of government property. He then spent more than a year and a half resisting attempts by the government to recover the material, in violation of laws against obstructing justice. And he induced others to help him in the scheme.
n November of 2022, Jack Smith was appointed special counsel to investigate and potentially prosecute Donald Trump in the classified documents case. The case landed in the court of a Florida judge Trump appointed to the bench, Aileen Cannon. Almost immediately, Judge Cannon began a four-on-the-floor, pedal-to-the-medal campaign of stalling and obstructing the attempts of Special Counsel Jack Smith to investigate Trump. She granted a motion to appoint a “special master” to go through not only the classified material seized by the FBI but all the material he took from the White House. The ostensible reason for the special master was to examine the material to see if any of it was subject to either executive or attorney-client privilege. While the order was in effect, neither the FBI nor the special counsel was allowed to even look at the evidence in the investigation. Smith appealed to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, and in late December, Cannon’s order was overturned.
This is an excerpt from my weekly column in Salon. To read the rest, follow this link:
To be honest, I'm really down about what is happening in our nation--and Cannon's latest move is simply the tip of the iceberg. What with The Bloated Yam's desire to upend the Constitution, the selection of JD Vance and his stance on all the social issues, Biden's decline in the polls, and the SCOTUS decision that gave The Bloated Yam special immunity, this has turned into the summer from Hell.
Cannon gave Trump a “ happy ending”. She is in the wrong profession.