Trump case assigned to judge who faced criticism over her ruling in his favor in Mar-a-Lago search

By MEG KINNARD, CURT ANDERSON and ERIC TUCKER
Associated Press

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The historic federal criminal case against former President Donald Trump has been assigned to a judge he appointed who faced blistering criticism over her earlier pro-Trump handling of a search warrant in his case. A person familiar with the development confirmed Friday the case was assigned to Judge Aileen Cannon, who issued a ruling last year granting Trump’s request for an independent arbiter to review documents obtained during an FBI search of his Florida estate. Many legal experts saw her ruling as extraordinary and unusually broad, and it was later overturned on appeal. Cannon is a former federal prosecutor who was nominated to the bench by Trump in 2020.