A secretly recorded conversation with Roger Stone suggests that the Donald Trump adviser and confidant is implying that the judge in Trump’s classified documents case, Aileen Cannon, could be in the convicted felon and former president’s pocket.
Liberal filmmaker Lauren Windsor secretly recorded the self-described “dirty trickster” at a Catholics Prayer for Trump event on March 19 at Mar-a-Lago, where he made several comments hinting that Cannon would dismiss the case. MSNBC legal analyst Joyce Vance said that these comments could suggest Cannon is compromised.
“To the extent Stone is insinuating something more sinister, that they have judges in their pocket, that’s entirely different, entirely wrong,” Vance wrote in her Substack newsletter.
“Perhaps he’s just making it up when he says Judge Cannon will soon dismiss the case against Donald Trump and that they have other judges available during the election. But given his background and history, it would be foolish not to be concerned,” Vance added.
Stone was caught on video saying, “We are beating them. I think the judge is on the verge of dismissing the charges against him in Florida,” referring to Cannon.
“They’re delayed in New York City, and they’re now delayed in Washington,” Stone continued, alluding to Trump’s election interference case regarding the January 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.
Stone’s words, if he is hinting at Cannon working with Trump, would seemingly be corroborated by a Thursday New York Times report revealing that the Trump-appointed judge was urged by senior federal judges to hand off Trump’s classified documents case to other judges with more experience, who didn’t have previous involvement interfering in the case, as Cannon had. Cecilia Altonaga, the chief U.S. district judge for the Southern District of Florida and Cannon’s superior, even reached out to Cannon and told her taking the case would be “bad optics.” Cannon turned the judges down.
Cannon’s decisions in the case have been criticized for appearing to favor the presumptive Republican presidential nominee and convicted felon. She’s agreed to hear pretrial motions that have slowed down proceedings, thrown out parts of the case, and postponed the trial indefinitely. The judge has drawn criticism, even from one of Trump’s former lawyers, for seeming to be prone to exploitation,
