‘Extremely Rare’: NY Times Reporter Taken Aback by Two Federal Judges Asking Trump Appointee to Recuse From Docs Case

The New York Times reported on Thursday that U.S. District Court Judge for the Southern District of Florida Aileen Cannon was asked by two senior federal judges to recuse herself from former President Donald Trump’s classified documents case — but she refused.

Reporter Charlie Savage , who worked on the story with Alan Feuer , spoke to “two people briefed on the conversations” between Cannon and the two judges:

The judges who approached Judge Cannon — including the chief judge in the Southern District of Florida, Cecilia M. Altonaga — each asked her to consider whether it would be better if she were to decline the high-profile case, allowing it to go to another judge, the two people said.

But Judge Cannon, who was appointed by Mr. Trump, wanted to keep the case and refused the judges’ entreaties. Her assignment raised eyebrows because she has scant trial experience and had previously shown unusual favor to Mr. Trump by intervening in a way that helped him in the criminal investigation that led to his indictment, only to be reversed in a sharply critical rebuke by a conservative appeals court panel .

The story comes amid increasing reports about Cannon’s handling of the case brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith . Critics of Cannon have accused her of dragging out the process, making it unlikely that the case will begin before the 2024 general election.

Savage appeared on CNN to discuss the development with anchor Brianna Keilar who asked how “unusual” it was for a judge in Cannon’s more junior position to buck the advisement of more experienced judges:

Keilar: Can you just talk to what would normally be characteristic behavior here? Can you speak to that? I mean, how unusual is it that a more junior judge like Cannon would not once but twice disregard what these senior judges are suggesting she do in a case like this?

Savage: Well, it’s extremely rare for judges to tell other judges that they ought to step aside. So, it’s not like there’s a roadmap here that makes anything about this normal. However, one room over is, it is quite normal for novice judges newly appointed to the bench, like Judge Cannon, to look to her colleagues or their colleagues, who had many, many more years of experience being judges for advice and mentorship about how to do the job. And, you know, that is a sort of informal culture in federal courts, probably state courts, too, of mentoring and helping young judges sort of get their feet under them. And so this is certainly her rejecting that culture and going her own way.

Watch the video above via CNN.