Ty Cobb, a former Trump White House attorney, explained how U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon has created a “perception of partiality” that could lead to her removal from the former president’s delay-laden classified documents case.
Cannon, who has yet to set a trial date in the case, ordered lawyers on both sides to submit jury instructions that seemingly gave credence to Trump’s view of the Presidential Records Act, an act he’s argued gave him the power to take documents upon the end of his term.
Special counsel Jack Smith, in a filing on Tuesday, knocked the Trump-appointed judge for relying on the former president’s “fundamentally flawed legal premise.”
“I think the filing today makes it plain that she has to rule, and if she doesn’t rule under either scenario, they’ll be in a position to take her up to the 11th Circuit [Court of Appeals]. And I think the 11th Circuit will likely take her off the case,” said Cobb on Wednesday’s edition of CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront.”
Cobb, who noted that the 11th Circuit has previously rebuked Cannon over how she’s dealt with the case, called her delays “extraordinary” and that it’s “remarkable” Cannon hasn’t set a trial date.
He told Burnett that he doesn’t buy that it’s just “incompetence and inexperience” at this point.
“I think the evidence is just too overwhelming,” added Cobb, who criticized Cannon’s handling of the case last month.
He continued, “I mean, yes, she may be incompetent but at this stage of the game, her incompetence is so gross that I think it clearly creates the perception of partiality and her attempt to put her thumb on the scale. So, I think that should disqualify her.”
Burnett, earlier in the program, noted several moves by Cannon that have delayed a case considered to be “open and shut” against the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.
“Why do you think Judge Cannon’s stalling it?” Burnett asked Cobb.
“I recognize that many commentators today have tried to be polite about Judge Cannon’s missteps here and suggesting that they relate somehow to her experience or incompetence,” Cobb said.
“I think the evidence of her bias is pretty palpable at this stage of the game.”