A Florida federal judge who dismissed a classified criminal documents lawsuit against former President Donald Trump on Tuesday rejected a request by a man accused of trying to assassinate Trump at a golf course in September to recuse himself from the case. Rejected.
Judge Eileen Cannon, appointed to the federal bench by President Trump, wrote: order None of the arguments cited by defendant Ryan Routh justified dismissal of the case in U.S. District Court in West Palm Beach.
“Defendant cites a series of factors that he believes, taken together, appear to be partial,” Cannon wrote. “Whether examined individually or together, none of these are grounds for refusal.”
“I have no ‘relationship with the alleged victim’ in any reasonable sense of that expression,” Cannon said.
The federal defense office in West Palm Beach, which represents Mr. Routh, declined to comment on Mr. Cannon’s sentence.
In a filing last week, Routh’s lawyers cited an ABC News report that said Cannon was on the list of candidates for attorney general if Trump beats Kamala Harris in next week’s presidential election. I was doing it.
Routh, 58, is charged with five counts. indictment In addition to attempting to kill Republican presidential candidate Trump, he also committed firearms crimes and assaulted a U.S. Secret Service agent.
He was arrested on September 15 on suspicion of firing and fleeing from a Secret Service agent who spotted a rifle sticking out of the treeline from President Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach. The former president was playing a round at a nearby course.
Routh has pleaded not guilty.
In their motion to dismiss Cannon, Routh’s lawyers say that in addition to appointing Cannon to her seat, Trump has “repeatedly praised” her in public and that Trump won the election. It noted that Mr. Bacannon has “prospects for judicial advancement.” She rejected herself saying it would “remove the public perception that the Trump incident has brought about.” [been] Assigned to this court in a non-random manner. ”
Ms. Routh’s lawyers also noted that Ms. Cannon has won rulings favorable to President Trump, including dismissal of the classified documents case, and that she went to high school with one of the prosecutors in Mr. Routh’s case in the 1990s and that she went to high school with one of the prosecutors in Mr. Routh’s case nine years ago. She also noted that she attended his wedding.
“These unprecedented facts and circumstances, taken together, may create an unfair impression in the public’s mind,” Routh’s lawyers wrote in the motion on Oct. 17. “The Constitution and federal recusal laws therefore require His Highness to recuse himself” from the matter. ”
In her ruling denying the request for revocation, Cannon said she has “no control” over what President Trump will say about her, adding: “I also have no control over what the political impact of my decision will be. Nor is he concerned about how the ruling will be viewed by “some media.” ”’
“I have never spoken to or met former President Trump except as required to attend a formal judicial proceeding through my attorney,” she wrote.
She also wrote that Routh’s case, like two others she presided over involving Trump, “was randomly assigned to me through the clerk’s random assignment system. All along.”
“I do not intend to be guided by wildly inaccurate, uninformed, or speculative opinions to the contrary,” Cannon wrote.
Cannon dismissed speculation that Trump would promote her to a senior judicial position or attorney general.
“The motion excluding such presumptions does not cite any objective facts that would justify a reasonable inference of impartiality or bias based on applicable legal principles,” she wrote.
Cannon dismissed the classified documents lawsuit against Trump in July. The lawsuit charged Trump with storing hundreds of classified government records after leaving the White House in January 2021 and obstructing efforts by authorities to retrieve them.
Cannon ruled that the appointment of Special Counsel Jack Smith as prosecutor in the case violated the Appointments Clause of the Constitution.
Cannon’s ruling in the docket appealed by Smith came two days after a gunman opened fire on Trump at a campaign rally in western Pennsylvania. The gunman in that incident was killed by the Secret Service.
