Aileen Cannon set to oversee apparent Trump assassination attempt case in Florida

The federal judge who presided over — and threw out — the criminal classified documents case the Justice Department brought against Donald Trump is now set to oversee the case into the latest apparent assassination attempt against the former president.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon — a Trump appointee — was randomly assigned the attempted assassination case Tuesday after a grand jury in Miami returned a five-count indictment against Ryan Routh in connection with the Sept. 15 incident at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla.

The indictment charges Routh with attempted assassination of a presidential candidate, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a violent crime and assault on a federal officer, as well as two charges he already faced: being a felon in possession of a firearm and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

According to prosecutors and police, a Secret Service agent opened fire on Routh after spotting a rifle barrel poking through a fence surrounding the golf course as Trump was about a hole away. Routh, who authorities say did not fire, was arrested by sheriff’s deputies in an adjoining county a short time later.

The lead charge the Justice Department filed against Routh Tuesday was brought under a federal statute that makes it a crime to attempt to kill a major-party presidential candidate. The charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison if he’s convicted.

Routh was held in detention Monday following a bond hearing that revealed he’d written about his intentions to assassinate Trump and offered $150,000 to anyone who’d be successful at killing the former president.

Cannon, whose chambers are in Fort Pierce, Florida, was assigned the case through a random draw among about 10 federal judges who regularly take cases arising in the Palm Beach area.

Cannon has been central to Trump’s legal wranglings. She dismissed the classified documents case against Trump in July, concluding that the special counsel overseeing it had been illegally appointed by the Justice Department. The ruling is under appeal.

In 2022, Cannon issued an unusual ruling granting Trump access to records seized in a search of his Mar-a-Lago residence. A federal appeals court later overturned that decision.

Attorney General Merrick Garland previewed the assassination charges in an unrelated press conference with reporters on Tuesday, following an announcement in court from prosecutors on Monday that they were working toward the supplemental charges. “All of our top priority should be ensuring that accountability occurs in this case, and that those who run for office and their families are safe and protected,” Garland said.

Garland was also noncommittal about whether federal investigators would cooperate with a separate investigation undertaken by Florida officials. Trump on Monday accused the Justice Department of “mishandling and downplaying” the apparent attempt on his life and said he’d want Florida investigators to take over the case if federal investigators can’t work “honestly and without bias.”

“Our job is to ensure full accountability here,” Garland said during Tuesday’s press conference. “We always seek to cooperate and to get assistance from state and local law enforcement to the extent consistent with and appropriate with the law and appropriate with respect to the investigations.”

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment over the new charges and Cannon being assigned to the case.

The trial over the classified documents case was initially supposed to kick off in May, but was indefinitely postponed as Cannon continued to hold hearings on numerous motions before ultimately throwing out the case. Had the schedule proceeded as planned, the details of the investigation would have spilled into public view in the months leading up to the election — and kept Trump in court rather than on the campaign trail.

Cannon faced scrutiny over her rulings and made headlines over clashes with prosecutors or issuing decisions many legal experts find puzzling .