Prosecutors: No basis for Cannon to recuse from Trump attempted assassination case

Federal prosecutors say there is no basis for Judge Aileen Cannon to remove herself from a criminal case against the man accused of plotting to kill Donald Trump on a Florida golf course last month, despite defense claims that the public could see her as biased due to her rulings in the former president’s favor in earlier cases.

Prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida submitted an unusually terse, two-page filing to Cannon Monday, urging the Trump appointee to turn down the recusal motion brought by defense attorneys for Ryan Routh, who faces charges including attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate.

“Routh’s motion does not cite any authority mandating recusal in these circumstances, and does not present either facts or case law requiring recusal on this record in light of the controlling standard. Judges are obligated to recuse only when there are proper grounds to do so,” prosecutors wrote.

The prosecution submission cites various precedents declaring that judges need not recuse because of the identity of the president who appointed them and that prior rulings don’t typically require recusal.

But the defense motion filed last week said that an unusual combination of factors pushed them to argue Cannon should recuse in Routh’s case, including some that seem unprecedented — like Trump’s public salute to Cannon during his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention. Defense lawyers said that created a perceived connection between Trump and Cannon that goes beyond the ordinary relationship between an appointing president and a judge.

In their filing Monday, prosecutors didn’t directly address Trump’s public praise for Cannon nor engage with the substance of her rulings backing Trump in a dispute over the FBI’s court-ordered 2022 search of his Mar-a-Lago residence and her ruling in July dismissing a criminal case charging Trump with hoarding classified information there and obstructing the investigation into the matter.