Aileen Cannon's Order in Trump Case Could Lead to Her 'Recusal': Lawyer

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon's recent order involving a criminal defendant associated with former President Donald Trump's classified document case indictment may result in her ultimate recusal, according to former assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Weissmann.

On Monday, Cannon submitted a court order requesting former Trump aide Walt Nauta to present evidence related to Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith's request to have an out-of-state jury. A Washington D.C.-based grand jury has overseen the case since its inception.

Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira were both charged in the documents case for allegedly attempting to obstruct the government's attempt to retrieve material from Trump's home in Palm Beach, Florida.

Trump, the current GOP frontrunner for the 2024 presidential nomination, has been indicted three times this year—including twice by Smith and the DOJ. Most recently, Smith indicted Trump on four counts relating to the 2020 election and the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. The former president pleaded not guilty to the charges on Thursday in Washington, D.C. Trump previously pleaded not guilty to charges associated with the classified documents.

On Tuesday, Weissmann said on MSNBC's Alex Wagner Tonight that regardless of how Cannon reached the decision to make the order, it was "unusual...and showed a fundamental misunderstanding of basic 101 criminal law as to how grand juries work—which they can continue investigating ongoing crime of either an existing defendant or other defendants of other crimes that have been committed."

During a Fox News interview on Sunday, former Trump attorney Jim Trusty referred to "a lot of shenanigans in terms of grand jury usage." He said an investigation doesn't typically occur for a year in one location, only to move it to another district.

One day later, Cannon filed the court document of her own volition.

Weissmann told Alex Wagner that prosecutors can bring a grand jury investigation anywhere where crime may have occurred, including multiple districts, "as long as you have a good faith basis."

"This was such a fundamental misunderstanding," he said. "Where in God's green earth is she getting this idea because it's so off the charts from everything in the record, why is she doing this? It's not like the litigants raised the issue, she's doing it on her own and she's wrong."

Newsweek reached out to Weissmann via email for comment.

Lawyer and former Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman told Newsweek that it's not unusual to have additional grand juries in other districts, adding that normally a grand jury does not continue an investigation after indictment with the general rule being that it is "improper."

The other grand jury could be looking at other individuals potentially involved in alleged discretions related to the classified documents, he said, "all of which is proper." The government started the investigation in Washington, D.C. perhaps not realizing that co-conspirators only committed alleged illegal acts in Florida.

"[Cannon's] not the most experienced judge on the block, but she's being very careful and there's no reason to think what she's doing isn't proper and within bounds of what a federal judge can do," Akerman said.

"There is no way, on the facts that we now know, without more that she recuses herself," attorney Andrew Lieb told Newsweek.

Patricia Crouse, a political science practitioner in residence at the University of New Haven, told Newsweek that Cannon is seemingly following the same path as when she granted Trump's legal team last year to appoint a special master to review the case's evidence to determine what would be admissible in court.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit later reversed Cannon's order.

In July, Cannon rejected a request for a trial delay by Trump's legal team to start the proceedings after the 2024 election. She issued an order that his trial will begin on May 20, 2024.

"Although [Cannon] turned down Trump's request to delay the proceedings, she seems to be using delaying tactics to slow down the process," Crouse said. "More than just favoring Trump though, from a political and I suppose legal perspective, she continues to look very inept at her job and in some cases not looking like she understands the law.

"Her recusal may be the only way to preserve the integrity of this particular case."

Former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance wrote Monday on X, formerly Twitter, that Cannon's disclosure of the existence of a grand jury investigation in another district "may tee up the issue of her fitness on this case."