Isolated and inexperienced: A portrait of the judge overseeing Trump’s documents case from veterans of her courtroom

Judge Aileen Cannon had been on the federal bench for little more than a year when a senior judge offered to preside over one of her first criminal trials in her isolated south Florida courthouse.

Judge Aileen Cannon had been on the federal bench for little more than a year when a senior judge offered to preside over one of her first criminal trials in her isolated south Florida courthouse. “It’s very lonely,” Senior Judge Paul C. Huck told CNN of Fort Pierce, a small fishing and citrus community on the edge of the Southern District of Florida where Cannon is the only federal judge. “It’s a pretty sleepy town with a pretty sleepy courtroom.” Huck ultimately presided over the March 2022 criminal trial – not because Cannon needed help, he said, but because he enjoys volunteering for trials in courts across Florida. “I thought I’d go up there and just spend some time with her and get to know her better,” Huck said of Cannon, whom he recalled as “very smart” and “very personable.” Two years later, Cannon is now presiding over one of the most consequential and complex cases in America: the criminal prosecution of former president Donald Trump over his handling of the nation’s secrets. And she’s attracting nationwide scrutiny for how she’s approached the case. Since Trump was first indicted a year ago, Cannon has dragged out the proceedings in ways that have flummoxed legal scholars and put a trial initially scheduled to begin last month on hold indefinitely.