(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Judge Aileen Cannon has rejected a motion from the attorneys of alleged failed Trump assassin Ryan Routh to recuse herself from the case.
Routh had sought Cannon’s recusal for several reasons, including that she was appointed to her position by Routh’s alleged victim, Donald Trump; she made rulings favorable to Trump in the Justice Department’s classified documents case against him; and she went to high school with one of Routh’s prosecutors.
Cannon said her appointment by Trump was not a sufficient reason for recusal.
“I have never spoken to or met former President Trump except in connection with his required presence at an official judicial proceeding, through counsel. I have no ‘relationship to the alleged victim’ in any reasonable sense of the phrase,” she said.
🚨BREAKING🚨Judge Aileen Cannon just denied alleged Trump assassin Ryan Routh's motion for her to recuse herself from the case.
Cannon: "I have never spoken to or met former President Trump except in connection with his required presence at an official judicial proceeding,… pic.twitter.com/GwFDxx7LyR
— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) October 29, 2024
“I follow my oath to administer justice faithfully and impartially, in accordance with the Constitution and the laws of this country. And Defendant has identified no practice, much less an established practice, warranting a judge’s recusal because a party, witness, or alleged victim in a judicial proceeding makes public statements—positive or negative—about a judge who lacks any control over such statements.”
Cannon made similar comments about her relationship with one of the prosecutors on the case, Christopher Browne of the DOJ’s National Security Section in Miami. Routh’s attorneys disclosed last week that the two went to school together, and that Cannon attended Browne’s wedding some nine years ago.
However, Cannon said she hasn’t spoken to Browne in years, denying that the two are close friends.
“I maintained a professional friendship with the stated prosecutor during my time as a prosecutor (2013–2020), as I did with other colleagues within the United States Attorneys’ Office. As part of that professional friendship, I attended his wedding nearly a decade ago,” she said.
“I maintain no ongoing personal relationship with the prosecutor, nor have I communicated with him in years. In short, my personal friendship years ago with the prosecutor has no bearing or influence whatsoever on my impartial handling of this case or any other case in which he may appear as counsel of record,” she added.
Meanwhile, the parties are set to meet by Thursday to discuss a dispute they have over the scope of the protective order that prosecutors want to place on evidence in the case. DOJ seeks to keep all evidence secret, while Routh’s attorneys said such restrictions would violate his constitutional rights.
For more on that dispute, read here.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
