Aileen Cannon Declines to Step Aside From Trump Suspect Case

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon will not be recusing herself from overseeing the case involving a man accused of trying to assassinate Donald Trump at his Florida golf club in September.
In a motion filed Tuesday, Cannon dismissed assertions that she has any “relationship” with the former president. The judge, who was appointed by Trump in 2020, has been accused of being partial to him, such as when this summer she dismissed the 40 federal felony charges against him in connection with his handling of classified documents after he left the White House.
“I have no control over what private citizens, members of the media, or public officials or candidates elect to say about me or my judicial rulings,” Cannon wrote Tuesday. “Nor am I concerned about the political consequences of my rulings or how those rulings might be viewed by ‘some in the media.'”
The defendant in Trump’s assassination case, Ryan Wesley Routh, had filed for Cannon to remove herself from his case. Routh is accused of planning to shoot the GOP presidential nominee at Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach on September 15 after he was spotted by Secret Service agents pointing a rifle in Trump’s direction from the golf course’s boundary.
Routh’s attorneys argued in their motion that Cannon could not be impartial in the case because she was appointed by Trump. They also said that the former president has repeatedly praised Cannon after she dismissed his classified documents case in July.
Newsweek reached out via email to Routh’s lead public defender on Tuesday for comment.
ABC News reported earlier this month that Cannon’s name is included in a purported list of candidates Trump may be considering for attorney general if he wins in November, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Cannon wrote in her decision on Tuesday that she has “never spoken to or met former President Trump except in connection with his required presence at an official judicial proceeding, through counsel.”
“I have no ‘relationship to the alleged victim’ in any reasonable sense of the phrase,” she added.
The judge also addressed “media rumors” that the cases involving Trump were assigned to her chamber “in a non-random manner.”
She wrote on Tuesday, “This case, like the prior cited cases involving former President Trump, were randomly assigned to me through the Clerk’s random case assignment system. Period. I will not be guided by highly inaccurate, uninformed, or speculative opinions to the contrary.”
Routh, 58, has been charged with possession of a firearm while a former felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number in connection with the alleged assassination attempt. He could face a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Cannon has scheduled his trial to start on November 18 in Fort Pierce, Florida.
Update 10/29/24, 5:13 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with additional information and background.