Judge Aileen Cannon has been criticized for letting unresolved legal issues pile up in Donald Trump's classified documents case, but the Trump appointee has herself bristled at the notion that she is delaying justice. While "it may not appear on the surface that anything is happening," Cannon recently snapped at a prosecutor on special counsel Jack Smith's team, "there is a ton of work being done."
According to a New York Times report, while plenty of legal work is done behind the curtain, prosecutors and legal experts are annoyed over what is plain to see: that Cannon has granted full hearings on even the most far-fetched issues that Trump's legal team has raised — and then declined to rule decisively on those issues, consciously or not playing into the former president's strategy of delaying the trial until after the 2024 election.
Trump, who is charged with stealing classified national security documents, including nuclear secrets, and hiding them at his Mar-a-Lago estate, could have the case dropped altogether if he's elected president again.
There is no indication that Cannon is ready to have the case go to trial, despite handling it since last June. At seven public hearings, the Times reported that Cannon has raised eyebrows by repeatedly asked the same questions and not appearing to grasp the answers she received.
For example, when Stanley Woodward Jr., a lawyer for Trump co-defendant Walt Nauta, asked Cannon to make prosecutors turn over their internal messages so he could better argue that the charges were brought vindictively, Cannon asked him what he actually wanted from the government. Woodward responded that he wanted anything that mentioned him by name, before Cannon asked him to say it again, but more "slowly."
“All right,” she said, looking through her notes. “So I understand your request. It’s, quote, ‘All documents, communications concerning Mr. Woodward.’”
Prosecutor David Harbach then argued that the claims were "fantasy" — Woodward asserts that a Justice Department official threatened his career during a meeting about the case — and that the law prohibits defense counsel from sniffing around government communications. But Cannon seemed to miss the point, asking Harbach repeatedly about whether or not he had the messages that Woodward wanted, even as Harbach impressed upon her that Woodward had no evidence that could justify the surrender of any messages.
Exasperated, Harbach all but shouted that Woodward's request had no legal or factual standing. "That is what I'm trying to tell you," he said. Cannon responded by telling Harbach that he needed to "calm down."
The contentious exchanges Cannon has had with prosecutors stand in contrast to her more gentle treatment of Trump's lawyers, prompting critics to accuse her of bias.
"Regardless of her motives," the Times noted, "Judge Cannon has effectively imperiled the future of a criminal prosecution that once seemed the most straightforward of the four Mr. Trump is facing."
