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Trump Judge Eileen Cannon won’t recuse herself from Ryan Routh case

Posted on by L. Dreeye
Trump Judge Eileen Cannon won’t recuse herself from Ryan Routh case

U.S. District Judge Eileen Cannon owes her lifetime appointment to the man Ryan Routh is accused of attempting to murder.

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FORT PIERCE — Despite concerns about her impartiality, the federal judge who dismissed the case over Donald Trump’s secret documents will not move the case against Ryan Routh, the man accused of trying to kill him.

U.S. District Judge Eileen Cannon issued an order Tuesday denying Routh’s request to recuse himself from his case. She argued in the ruling that she has no relationship with Trump and does not intend to allow allegations to the contrary to undermine her ability to control the proceedings.

Her order rejected concerns raised two weeks earlier by Routh’s team of public defenders Christie Militello and Rene Sihvola. In their motion, the lawyers said they believed Cannon would act impartially, but feared members of the public might think otherwise.

Who is Eileen Cannon? Meeting with the Trump-appointed judge overseeing the classified documents case?

Cannon was criticized for decisions that appeared to favor the former president but were not legally binding. In 2022, she granted a motion that temporarily denied investigators access to documents seized from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Beach. Two years later, she dropped all 40 felony charges against him.

The Court of Appeal overturned the first decision and is considering doing the same for the second. These are the same decisions that Trump praised during his campaign for a second term.

Militello and Sihvola pointed to those decisions, as well as Trump’s remarks about Cannon, in their recusal motion. The lawyers suggested that people might believe Cannon has “personal feelings of loyalty and gratitude” to Trump, who, if re-elected, could appoint her to a higher court.

Cannon called the arguments far-fetched, speculative and unsupported by law.

“I cannot control what private citizens, members of the media, government officials or candidates choose to say about me or my judicial decisions,” the judge wrote. “I am also not concerned about the political consequences of my decisions or how those decisions may be perceived by ‘certain members of the media.’ “

Cannon promised to administer impartial justice in accordance with her judicial oath. She also rejected the idea that her recusal was necessary to refute suspicions that she was deliberately implicated in the case.

“This case, like the previous mentioned cases involving former President Trump, was assigned to me randomly through the random clerk assignment system. Period,” Cannon wrote. “I will not be guided by highly inaccurate, uninformed or speculative opinions to the contrary.”

Ryan Routh remains in federal custody while a judge considers his release.

While Trump’s secret documents case involved national security and obstruction of justice, Routh’s case involved attempted murder. The indictment is one of several federal prosecutors have filed since his Sept. 15 arrest. If convicted, Cannon could sentence him to life in prison.

Routh also faces charges of stalking, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a violent crime and assault on a federal officer. He pleaded not guilty to each of them.

Investigators believe Routh traveled from Greensboro, North Carolina, to West Palm Beach on Aug. 14. According to data obtained from his cell phone, Routh went to Trump International Golf Club in the suburbs of West Palm Beach and Mar-a-Lago several times over the course of a month. before the alleged assassination attempt.

Federal Court: Prosecutors say man threatened to kill Fort Pierce judge, possibly targeting Trump lawyer

On September 15, Routh watched Trump International for 12 hours, positioned among tall hedges and behind a chain-link fence with a loaded rifle and a bag of mini sausages. Prosecutors described Routh’s setup as a “sniper’s nest” equipped with two bulletproof plates and a telescopic sight attached to his pistol.

A U.S. Secret Service agent spotted Routh near the course’s sixth hole. Trump, who had not yet come to the attention of the criminal, was at the fifth hole. The agent called out to the shooter and then noticed the barrel of a rifle “pointed directly at him.” The agent fired several shots.

None landed. Routh, who investigators said did not return fire, fled on foot to a black Nissan Xterra parked across the street. A nearby driver said he made eye contact with Raut as he ran away. A witness took a photo of Routh’s car and captured all of his license plates except the last digit.

Go deeper: How criminals like Trump mobster Ryan Routh, who is banned from owning guns, still get guns

Authorities arrested Routh on Interstate 95 in Martin County. Inside his Xterra, agents found two additional license plates, six cellphones, one of which included a Google search for “how to drive from Palm Beach County to Mexico,” 12 pairs of gloves, a passport and a handwritten list of places where Trump was scheduled to appear.

Prosecutors released excerpts from a handwritten letter allegedly written by Raut and addressed to The World. It said the following:

“It was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, but I failed you. I tried my best and used all the intelligence I could muster. Now you have to finish the job; and I will offer $150,000 to whoever can complete it.” “

Other parts of the letter seem to suggest that the author intended to botch the assassination attempt. At Routh’s detention hearing, Militello suggested he staged the attack as a publicity stunt rather than with the intent to cause harm.

Routh, whose trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 10, remains in federal custody.

Hannah Phillips covers criminal justice for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at [email protected].. Help support our journalism and subscribe today.