The historic indictment and criminal case against former President Donald Trump will be overseen, at least initially, by a federal judge he appointed who has faced criticism for her handling of the case in its earlier stages.
Judge Aileen Cannon, a former federal prosecutor who was nominated to the bench by Trump in 2020, has been randomly assigned to handle the federal criminal case involving the former president’s handling of classified documents at his Mar-a-lago resort an hour south of where Cannon sits on the bench, sources told Fox News Digital Friday.
Cannon will handle the initial court proceedings after the arraignment and her name appeared on a sealed federal summons issued to Trump to appear in court Tuesday afternoon, sources said.
Cannon was thrust into the spotlight last year when she issued what many legal experts saw as an extraordinary and unusually broad decision to appoint a “special master” to review the documents seized by the FBI.
TRUMP AIDE INDICTED IN CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS INVESTIGATION
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a rally in at the Waco Regional Airport in March 2023. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
She has also been a member of the Federalist Society, a conservative legal organization that has championed judges appointed by Trump, including Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
Trump was indicted on Thursday on 37 felony counts including willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and false statements, according to an unsealed copy of the indictment obtained by Fox News.
Associated Press and Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman contributed to this report