Judge Aileen Cannon has been an ongoing source of frustration to Donald Trump's critics, repeatedly delaying the trial in special Jack Smith's Mar-a-Lago documents case and flatly rejecting Smith's request for a limited gag order.
Ty Cobb, a former Trump White House lawyer turned Trump foe, has been especially biting in his criticism — telling CNN that Cannon is showing a "palpable bias" that goes way beyond "mere ineptitude."
National Public Radio (NPR)'s Scott Detrow discussed Cannon's handling of the case with Shira Scheindlin, a retired federal judge appointed by President Bill Clinton during the 1990s.
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Scheindlin was quite critical of Trump appointee Cannon during the interview, telling Detrow, "The main thing that stood out to me is how she has constantly caused delay in the case instead of moving it forward. She's done that in, I would say, two ways. One is her inability to rule in an efficient manner. She holds onto motions. She keeps them pending. She can't seem to decide things…. The second thing that stands out to me is what appears to me to be her dislike of the government and her favoritism toward the defense."
Scheindlin continued, "I'm not saying that that's going to, in the end, determine how she rules on everything, but she seems to have a visceral dislike of Jack Smith and his team. She's constantly criticizing them. She's constantly being sharp and sarcastic with them, and she almost never treats the defense that way."
Detrow asked Scheindlin how "worried" she is about "the rule of law in this country," and she responded that "partisan criticism" has "affected the public's perception of the validity of the court system."
Scheindlin told the NPR reporter, "I think they've lost a lot of faith in this U.S. Supreme Court because of what has been disclosed about Justice Alito and Justice Thomas. But the system has actually worked quite well in the sense of the trial on the hush money case and in the Hunter Biden case."
Scheindlin added, "I might not have agreed with either outcome, but the jury system worked — and made a decision and everybody is treated the same and that's a good thing, whether your last name is Biden or your last name is Trump."
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Read NPR's full interview with Shira Scheindlin at this link.