Aileen Cannon Faces New Request in Donald Trump Case

Two private citizens on Thursday filed as amici in support of former President Donald Trump's motion to dismiss his indictment in the classified documents case in Florida, claiming it's a "misuse of government funds" that does "not support the people's interest of justice."

Jessica Nan Berk and Hilda Tobias Kennedy of Atlantic City, New Jersey, wrote to presiding Judge Aileen Cannon to appear as "amici" for the former president, meaning they are not a party to the case, but believe they have relevant information.

In the motion, Berk and Kennedy self-identify as "disabled, pro se, indigent, private citizens, elderly" who "have knowledge and experience the Court may find helpful."

Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, faces trial after being indicted by Special Counsel Jack Smith on 40 federal charges alleging that he illegally retained classified documents he took after leaving the White House in 2021 and obstructed the government's efforts to retrieve them. He has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing.

Cannon, a Trump appointee, has faced criticism, largely along partisan lines, for delaying the trial and not setting a start date. Recently, she ruled that third-party lawyers Josh Blackman, Gene Schaerr and Matthew Seligman could present arguments at a June 21 hearing on Trump's motion to dismiss the indictment, which claims that Smith, who brought the charges against Trump, was appointed illegally.

In the motion, Berk and Kennedy write to Cannon that they are "not only renowned activists for progressive issues and disabled rights, but we are victims of discrimination as a disabled person," later adding, "We can not, in good conscience, see such a waste of money and miscarriage of justice without words spoken, as we have suffered so greatly from our miscarriage of justice ourselves."

They do not state how much the government has spent on the case, instead saying, "The funding the state has used, legal or not, to prosecute the Defendant is disproportional to the acts for which others in his same category and class have gone unpunished for the same crime."

The motion is mainly focused on the allocation of public funding, rather than the political backing of Trump. They wrote that "Funding is greatly needed for crimes against seniors and the disabled, veterans, the elderly, abused children/adults, etc. and 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."

Regarding the alleged crime, Berk and Kennedy wrote: "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."

"Our judges do not comment on pending cases," the Southern District of Florida office said in a statement to Newsweek.

Dave Aronberg, state attorney for Palm Beach County in Florida, told Newsweek in an email on Friday: "After Judge Cannon allowed non-parties to this litigation to file briefs and participate in oral arguments, it opened the door to tinfoil hat activists to attempt to join in the fun," he said in reference to the recent filing.

"Judge Cannon should deny these motions, or else this hearing will become even more of a circus. This hearing does not even have to take place, as the constitutionality of the special counsel has already been established in the courts."

In another email to Newsweek, Aronberg added that this filing is "unusual because these two individuals are non-lawyers who want to submit an amicus brief (unusual) AND want to participate in the oral argument (very unusual) AND want the judge's deadline extended because they are disabled (very, very unusual)."

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, Berk and Kennedy requested "additional time to file a brief in support of this motion."

The court filing comes over a week after a New York jury found Trump guilty of 34 felony counts in his criminal hush money trial.

Update 6/7/24, 3:50 p.m. ET: This story was updated to include Aronberg's additional comment.