Was Mar-a-Lago Case Judge Aileen Cannon Pictured Wearing 'Team Trump' Hat?

The appointment of U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to oversee the classified documents case, in which Donald Trump has been indicted on 37 charges, has sparked a fierce backlash from the former president's detractors and some legal experts.

Cannon, who was appointed to the District Court for the Southern District of Florida by Trump in the final months of his presidency in 2020, generated controversy in 2022 when she sought to limit investigators' ability to view the evidence in Trump's countersuit against the federal government.

Now, as the U.S. prepares for what is likely to be one of the biggest and most significant legal showdowns in its history, accusations of partisanship and bias are increasingly targeting career officials and the judiciary.

But did the Florida judge really go a step too far? Newsweek Misinformation Watch looked into it.

Cannon oversaw a process in which Trump's legal team pursued the appointment of a "special master" to review the evidence to determine what would be admissible in court. She also appointed Trump's pick to conduct the review.

But that decision was overruled by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit after it found Cannon had wrongly exercised jurisdiction over the case, eventually leading to the dismissal of Trump's lawsuit.

Some legal experts have alleged that Trump specifically sought for Cannon to oversee his initial lawsuit. Lawrence Tribe, professor of constitutional law at Harvard, told Newsweek that his top concern about Cannon presiding over the former president's case was her history of "pro-Trump interventions."

The chief clerk of the Southern District Court defended the appointment in a recent comment to The New York Times, telling the publication that the appointment was done at "random" and "normal procedures were followed." The clerk, Angela E. Noble, said that Judge Cannon would continue to oversee the case unless she recused herself.

Still, questions over Cannon's track record on the case and broader fears about the politicization of the federal judiciary have fueled more direct accusations, including posts appearing to show her at a pro-Trump rally and sporting a "Team Trump" hat.

"This is Judge Aileen Cannon who's been assigned to the Trump espionage case. I'm sure she'll be very impartial," said a June 9 tweet by Twitter user Captain Obvious, viewed more than 120,000 times.

"Judge Cannon That's YOU right? You Need to Recuse Yourself Gurl," another post featuring the photo said.

"This is interesting. Aileen Canon on the left. Photo courtesy of @Laurie_Garrett tweet. This pic gives a good reason why she should recuse or be removed as the Judge. This seems all too convenient but when you are dealing with a trump issue there is always some s*** like this," user Elephant Watcher wrote.

The photo circulated widely on Twitter and Reddit, from comments to posts and articles about the Florida judge's appointment, fueling further anger from Trump's opponents.

However, as Misinformation Watch found, there is little evidence to suggest that it is indeed Aileen Cannon in the picture, which has been taken out of context and shared misleadingly.

The image of two female Trump supporters was taken on September 3, 2022, during a pro-Trump rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The photo's author does not identify either of the women pictured.

"People gather to hear former president Donald Trump speak as he endorses local candidates at the Mohegan Sun Arena on September 03, 2022, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania," says the caption on the photo taken by Spencer Platt, as featured on Getty Images.

While it can be argued that the woman on the left side of the photo resembles Cannon, pictured below, the claim itself appears to stem from a misleading use of the image in another publication, Slate.

"Trump rallygoers, or members of the judiciary? It's hard to say," the caption under the same image says in the article titled "The Solution to the Trump Judge Problem Nobody Wants to Talk About."

While the article, dated September 6, 2022, goes to great lengths to point out and list Cannon's perceived failings and bias in the Trump case, nowhere does it claim that she is actually the person in the picture, nor that she had attended such rallies.

It is also questionable whether the judge in question, two days after being thrown into the national spotlight and beginning to work the Mar-a-Lago documents case, would travel all the way from Florida to attend a political rally by the subject in said case, less so be sporting Trump merchandise.

"We have that image in our archive but the caption is generic, it doesn't address to Judge Aileen Cannon," a Getty Images representative told Newsweek via email, responding to our query.

Spencer Platt, senior staff photographer at Getty Images, told Newsweek that he did not recall taking the photo "as it was a while back."

"That said, I highly doubt it was her as I always ask permission and can't believe a judge would agree. I think this is people getting all worked up," he said.

Newsweek has reached out for comment to the Florida District Court via email.

This isn't the first time that misleading material has spread on social media with regard to the case. There have previously been doctored photos showing another judge from Trump's case on a flight with Jeffrey Epstein and false claims that the judge was appointed by Trump.

The rumor that one of Trump's sons, Eric, accidentally leaked the password for the Mar-a-Lago security cam system, was ruled as unverified, with a Trump representative telling Newsweek the footage was filmed at a studio that belonged to a third party.