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The judge assigned to oversee Trump's criminal case was appointed by Trump himself

Former President Donald Trump appearing at the Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., on Nov. 15, 2022.
Andrew Harnik
/
AP
Former President Donald Trump appearing at the Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., on Nov. 15, 2022.

Read NPR's live blog for the latest on the Trump indictment.

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U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon has been assigned, at least for now, to oversee the case stemming from Donald Trump's indictment, a source confirmed to NPR on Friday.

Trump appointed Cannon to the bench in 2020, and she is the same judge who ruled in favor of Trump's request to appoint a special master to review documents seized by the FBI from Mar-a-Lago last summer, a move that temporarily stopped federal prosecutors from continuing their investigation into the documents.

The ruling sparked pushback from the Justice Department, which argued that the appointment would "significantly harm important governmental interests, including national security interests."

Cannon also ruled to unseal a list of items the FBI seized from their search of Trump's home. If Trump is convicted and Cannon remains on the case, she would be responsible for determining the sentence, including any prison time.

The attorneys who have been working with Trump on the case — Jim Trusty and John Rowley — resigned from representing him Friday morning as part of the fallout from his indictment by a federal grand jury.

"Now that the case has been filed in Miami, this is a logical moment for us to step aside and let others carry the cases through to completion," a statement the pair released reads.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

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