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The judges who approached Judge #AileenCannon —incl the #ChiefJudge in the So Dist of #Florida, Cecilia M. Altonaga— each asked her to consider whether it would be better if she were to decline the high-profile case, allowing it to go to another judge.

But Cannon, who was appointed by #Trump, wanted the case & refused the #judges’ entreaties.

#AileenCannon has broken, acc/to lawyers who operate there, w/a general practice of federal #judges in the Southern District of #Florida of delegating some pretrial motions to a magistrate — in this instance, Judge #BruceReinhart. While he is [technically] subordinate to her, Judge Reinhart is an older & much more experienced jurist. In 2022, he was the one who signed off on an #FBI #warrant to search #Trump’s #MarALago …for highly sensitive govt files that Trump kept after leaving office.

Since, #AileenCannon has exhibited #hostility to #prosecutors, handled pretrial motions slowly & indefinitely postponed the #trial, declining to set a date for it to begin even though both the prosecution & the defense had told her they could be ready this summer.

#Trump’s attys have urged her to #delay any trial until after the #election, & her handling of the case has virtually ensured that they will succeed in that strategy. Should Trump…[win], he could order the #DOJ to drop the case.

As Judge #AileenCannon’s handling of the case has come under intensifying scrutiny, her critics have suggested that she could be in over her head, in the tank for #Trump — or both.

Against that backdrop, word of the early efforts by her colleagues on the bench to persuade her to step aside — & the significance of her decision not to do so — has spread among other federal #judges & the people who know them.

@WBabs