'Absurd' Cannon ruling has Trump supporters demanding the right to testify on his behalf

Two elderly New Jersey activists are demanding Judge Aileen Cannon grant them the unusual privilege bestowed upon a slate of right-wing lawyers in convicted felon Donald Trump's classified documents case: the right to argue in court on the former president's behalf.

The pair on Friday filed a request to appear as amici for Trump in the Florida federal court where the former president stands accused of conspiring to obstruct justice and concealing public records.

"Hilda Tobias Kennedy and me, Jessica Nan Berk, are not only renowned activists for progressive issues and disabled rights, but we are victims of discrimination as a disabled person," the women explain.

"We have the knowledge and experience the Court may find helpful."

This unlikely request arrived just days after Cannon made the shocking decision to allow conservative attorneys to present arguments, outlined in an amicus brief by Reagan-era Attorney General Ed Meese, that special counsel Jack Smith does not have the constitutional authority to prosecute Trump.

Even Trump's former lawyer Jim Trusty admitted surprise that Cannon, a Trump-appointed judge, had granted such a request.

"Having amicus brief participants do argument as opposed to just submitting the briefs," Trusty said, "that's unusual."

Now it appears Cannon's ruling has opened the floodgates for all those who would profess themselves friends of Trump, whose prosecution Kennedy and Berk argue is wasting money through endless delay.

"We would want the Court to respectfully see that the funding the state has used, legal or not, to prosecute the Defendant is disproportional," the women write.

"The Department of Justice is grossly failing to use the people's money where it matters and should not be condoned for pursuing such a costly and dragged out litigation that could be quickly resolved cheaply."

The women are not the only Americans to raise concerns about delay in Trump's Florida case — but those criticisms have been pointed at the former president, who could kill a pending case if he regains the White House in 2025, and Cannon herself.

Indeed, Cannon indefinitely suspended Trump's court date to make room in the schedule for a slate of hearings Smith and legal experts have called unnecessary and "absurd."

The New Jersey activists agree, to a point.

"We can not, in good conscience, see such a waste of money and miscarriage of justice go without words spoken, as we have suffered so greatly from our miscarriage of justice ourselves," they write.

"We would also like to urge Congress to make some common sense legislation to stop this continued violation of removing sensitive documents without some kind of order, putting us all at risk."

Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges that he violated the Espionage Act by removing sensitive documents from the White House and left them stacked in Mar-a-Lago's ballroom, bathroom, shower and bedroom, among other places.