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Judge in Trump’s Classified Docs Case Fumbled a Prior Trial: Report

Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, has had just 14 days of trial experience.

U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon, the Trump appointee assigned to oversee his classified documents case in Florida, made two major errors in a trial in June, Reuters reported, citing legal experts and a court transcript. The transcript revealed that Cannon closed jury selection to a defendant’s family and the general public, an apparent violation of the constitutional right to a public trial. Additionally, she failed to swear in the prospective jury pool—a necessary process in which potential jurors take an oath of truth—which forced her to restart jury selection, according to Reuters. Cannon reportedly defended her decision to close the courtroom by blaming space restrictions. As Cannon prepares to preside over the historic prosecution of against Trump, her relative lack of inexperience on the bench has come under the spotlight. The New York Times found that of 224 criminal cases that have been assigned to her, only four went to trial, amounting to a combined total of just 14 trial days. Cannon did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.