Legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said Wednesday he believes Eileen Cannon, the federal judge overseeing former President Trump’s classified documents case, is “trying to kill this prosecution.”
Toobin criticized Cannon. Her latest decision Allow a third party to argue at the June 21 hearing on President Trump’s motion Dismiss the charges The reason given is that Special Counsel Jack Smith, who brought charges against President Trump, was illegally appointed.
“The way she has investigated this case is completely, completely, insanely outrageous,” Toobin said during a discussion on CNN’s “AC360.”
“And allowing outsiders to participate in a day-and-a-half hearing where most justices would have ruled on the briefs or allowed about 10 minutes for argument is just another example of how she is trying to kill this prosecution.”
“That’s the only conclusion,” Toobin continued. “As far as I know, no other judge in the federal system would handle these matters in the way that she is trying to.”
Trump is facing 40 federal criminal charges in Florida for improperly handling White House records after he left office and for attempting to obstruct the government’s recovery of the records.
The files allegedly contained classified information on national defense and weapons, including top-secret documents.
In early May, Judge Cannon postponed the trial indefinitely, postponed some trial dates until late July and refused to set any trial dates.
She issued the postponement less than two weeks before the trial was scheduled to begin on May 20, citing a number of issues that needed to be resolved.
In a separate case, Trump was convicted late last month on 34 federal counts of falsifying business records in a scheme to conceal information that could harm the American people ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Trump has vowed to appeal the case.
Trump has also been indicted on two other criminal charges, both related to his attempts to remain in power after losing the 2020 presidential election. Both cases, in federal court and in Georgia state court, have been delayed and are unlikely to go to trial before the November election.
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