Trump’s classified documents case sent to Trump-friendly judge randomly: report

The federal case in which Donald Trump is facing criminal charges for his handling of classified documents was reportedly randomly sent to a Trump-appointed judge who has provided the former president with friendly rulings in the past.

Jack Smith's criminal indictment of Trump, which outlines various charges including those under the Espionage Act, was sent to Judge Aileen M. Cannon. The clerk for the federal court system for the Southern District of Florida confirmed that the choice was random and that Cannon's assignment to the case was not temporary, according the Charlie Savage of the New York Times.

"The news of Judge Cannon's assignment raised eyebrows because of her role in an earlier lawsuit filed by Mr. Trump challenging the F.B.I.'s search of his Florida club and estate, Mar-a-Lago. In issuing a series of rulings favorable to him, Judge Cannon, a Trump appointee, effectively disrupted the investigation until a conservative appeals court ruled she never had legitimate legal authority to intervene," Savage wrote.

The new case wasn't assigned to Cannon because of her prior involvement in Trump's documents scandal, but due to a luck of the draw, according to the news report.

"Under the district court's procedures, new cases are randomly delegated to a judge who sits in the division where the matter arose or a neighboring one, even if it relates to a previous case. That Judge Cannon is handling Mr. Trump’s criminal indictment elicited the question of how that had come to be," Savage reported.

The Times reportedly asked about that process, and was told by the clerk that "normal procedures were followed" for the assignment.

"Mar-a-Lago is in the West Palm Beach division, between the Fort Lauderdale division and the Fort Pierce division, where Judge Cannon sits," the outlet reported on Saturday. "The district court's website shows that seven active judges have chambers in those three divisions, as do three judges on senior status who still hear cases."