Trump found himself a sympathetic federal judge in Aileen Cannon. She has been making decisions that have raised the eyebrows of legal experts around the country. Whether she is corrupted or just incompetent is open to question.
So, where are we? Trump demanded a Special Master to review the confiscated papers, including the classified documents, and decide which were his personal property and should be returned. So Judge Cannon promptly agreed.
Trump supplied two names one of which was Judge Raymond Dearie a respected and senior judge from the Eastern District of New York. As soon as the DOJ saw that name they said, hey, we're good with Judge Dearie.
But in the meantime the DOJ appealed including the classified documents to the 11th Circuit which basically came back and told Judge Cannon she was out of her mind and gave the classified documents to the DOJ removing them from the Special Master review,
Judge Dearie made it obvious he was going to fool around and set up a tight schedule for resolving the matter. He also:
(1) Directed the DOJ to provide an updated list of documents seized which the DOJ did.
(2) Directed Trump to produce an affidavit responding to the DOJ list identifying which documents he claimed and any documents that he asserted were planted as he had been claiming publicly. The affidavit would be filled under penalty of perjury. In other words, put up or shut up.
(3) Hired an assistant magistrate judge to review the actual documents who was authorized to bill Trump at the rate of $500 per hour.
(4) Warned Trump that if he didn't promptly pay the magistrate judge's invoices that he would be held in contempt.
Trump, predictably, went running to Judge Cannon who promptly:
(1) Pushed all of the target dates back.
(2) Ruled that Trump didn't have to produce any affidavit.
So, basically she just overruled the Special Master that she appointed.
The DOJ lost patience with this and has now filed an expedited appeal to the 11th Circuit essentially asking them to get Judge Cannon off the case entirely. What will be with the Special Master if the DOJ prevails is unclear but personally I think Judge Dearie should be retained.
More to come on this after the 11th Circuit rules.
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