Cannon continues bumbling and bolstering Trump's defense

Trump contends that Smith’s appointment by Garland as special counsel in November 2022 is unconstitutional and that Smith lacked the legal authority to bring the case against the former president.

Though other courts have uniformly swept aside similar challenges to the validity of special counsel appointments, [Aileen] Cannon — a 2020 Trump appointee to the bench — scheduled lengthy oral arguments on the matter, a sign that she was taking it seriously.

[...]

The judge’s intense dive into an issue that has been brushed aside by most other courts has caused head-scratching in the legal community and drawn renewed criticism of her handling of the sensitive case. Adding to the unusual dynamic: Cannon permitted three outside experts — two in favor of Trump’s position and one in favor of Smith’s — to address the court for 30 minutes apiece, nearly unheard of in criminal matters.

[...]

[Friday's] exchanges marked the beginning of a three-day stretch of intense hearings called by Cannon that will continue Monday and Tuesday.

  Politico

Ridiculous.

Pretty sure she'll come down on Smith's side (while chastising him anyway) because she won't want him taking an appeal of her decision to the 11th Circuit where she's already been smacked down.

Cannon alarmed legal experts across the ideological spectrum in 2022 when she paused the Justice Department’s investigation of Trump’s retention of classified documents shortly after the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago. Her decision earned a sharp rebuke from a conservative panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which permitted the probe to advance. The Supreme Court declined to take up Trump’s appeal.

[...]

Trump’s attorneys spent much of the day asserting that Smith’s operation should not be allowed to continue. Bove maintained that allowing the special counsel to remain in place amounted to a “shadow government.”

Cannon responded, “That sounds very ominous.”

[...]

Cannon was randomly assigned to preside over the case. She has moved slowly on many pretrial matters, some of them routine, and she has indefinitely postponed the trial date.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.