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By Nick Reynolds
Senior Reporter, Politics
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A number of liberal commentators are calling for an investigation into Donald Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon after a federal court eviscerated her decision to place a Trump-backed figure in charge of determining the evidence that would be allowed in a case accusing the former president of removing classified documents from the White House.
In a 21-page opinion from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this month, a three-judge panel wrote that Cannon—who granted Trump's request for a special master in September—did not have the "jurisdiction to block the United States from using lawfully seized records in a criminal investigation."
"The law is clear," the order read. "We cannot write a rule that allows any subject of a search warrant to block government investigations after the execution of the warrant. Nor can we write a rule that allows only former presidents to do so."
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"The district court improperly exercised equitable jurisdiction," it added. "And that dismissal of the entire proceeding is required."
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Cannon signed off on the order Monday, allowing the ongoing Department of Justice-led investigation into Trump to move ahead with all of the seized documents from Mar-a-Lago. Some, however, believe there's more to the story.
Cannon's decision to appoint a special master in the case—which legal critics, Trump's former Attorney General William Barr, and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals all agreed was outside of her jurisdiction—was a questionable one, particularly as many of his appointees have continuously ruled against him in court.
The fact Cannon—a registered Republican—was appointed by the former president and seemed to improperly side with him in a high-profile case was enough to give some observers pause about her credibility overseeing the case.
Some pointed to a recent document from her own court staff claiming the former president stood to suffer "a real harm" by being "deprived of potentially significant personal documents" that could be leaked to the press.
The list, the Daily Beast noted, was later revealed to include items like a doctor's note Trump himself made public while running for the White House in 2016.
"The case ends in what should be humiliation for Judge Cannon," Loyola Law School professor Jessica Levinson told the Daily Beast.
Now, some have even more questions about Cannon's motivations on the bench, particularly as Trump has faced allegations of paying key witnesses instrumental to his defense in a number of criminal cases.
"It's great that the 'special master' BS has been dismissed," Glenn Kirschner, an MSNBC legal analyst, tweeted. "But the fact that Trump-appointed Judge Cannon wrongfully exercised jurisdiction, thereby 'interfering' (11th Circuit's word) in a fed investigation into Trump, thereby benefiting Trump, feels kinda ... investigate-able?"
"Shouldn't the Senate Judiciary Committee investigate Judge Cannon?" Tristan Snell, an attorney who prosecuted Trump University several years ago, also wrote on social media. "To ensure that she was not having any improper communications with anyone tied to Trump while she was busy interfering with truly serious criminal and national security investigations of him?"
"FBI needs to investigate any contact between Traitor Trump and the #LooseCannon judge Cannon," Tomi Ahonen, a liberal social media influencer, wrote. "Has Aileen Cannon been paid a bribe? By the golf-happy Saudis perhaps? If she is crooked, she needs to rot in prison. And the Special Master ruling overturned, pronto by Circuit Court."
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