Florida Judge Cannon Bashed by Experts for ‘Playing Death-Ball’ With Trump in Classified Documents Case

Experts are dissatisfied with the way Florida Judge Aileen Cannon is handling former president Donald Trump's classified documents case. A former US attorney slammed the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida and Judge Cannon in response to the rapidity with which the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia will hear arguments regarding Trump's claim that he should be granted presidential immunity over his actions on January 6, per Raw Story.

Former prosecutor Joyce Vance praised the D.C. court in an interview with MSNBC's Katie Phang for taking up the immunity case. She compared it to the current situation in the courtroom of Trump-appointed Judge Cannon, in which no movement has been made since special counsel Jack Smith charged Trump with obstruction of justice for allegedly obtaining and keeping confidential government materials in his Mar-a-Lago home. 

"This is the key question because Trump's overall strategy is one of delay, get everything past the election, and hope that you when you can resolve everything from the Oval Office in your favor," Vance opined. "I think it's been a little bit baffling to watch some of the judges like Aileen Cannon and the Florida Mar-a-Lago related criminal prosecution, where she has been playing, you know, slow-ball. I think some people would call it death-ball, trying to keep that case from going anywhere," she told the host.

Contrasting the case with the DC Appeals case, Vance added, "What we're seeing now in Washington is very hopeful," she added. "To people who aren't lawyers, I think the speed at which courts move is mystifying, is extremely slow. What we've seen in these last couple of weeks has been lightning speed, out of both of these courts." The pretrial proceedings have been conducted by Judge Cannon at such a slow pace that experts on criminal charges involving sensitive material believe a postponement is almost certain, POLITICO reported.

A significant consequence of postponing Trump's trial until after the November election is that it may result in the trial never taking place at all, as per experts. It is anticipated that Trump will instruct the Justice Department to close the case if he wins the election. Even a brief delay might be risky: If the trial is moved into the summer or fall, it might coincide with the Republican National Convention or the main part of the campaign for the general election. 

“It could be seen as a stealth attempt to delay the ultimate trial date without actually announcing that yet,” former CIA attorney Brian Greer said. “There’s pretty much no chance they could go to trial on May 20 with the current schedule,” he added.