After an unprecedented three-day hearing, in which she indulged Donald Trump’s far-fetched legal arguments about the validity of special counsels and needled prosecutors’ request for a gag order, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon once again gave the ex-president a leg up by drawing out a ruling in his classified documents case.
On Monday, nearly four full weeks after Special Counsel Jack Smith filed a motion to prohibit Trump from inciting violence against the FBI agents investigating him, Cannon finally heard arguments from both sides. But—frustratingly, to prosecutors—she wrapped the hearing on Tuesday without issuing a ruling and she was not expected to anytime soon, leaving Trump free to lash out during Thursday’s presidential debate.
“I’m not surprised that Judge Cannon is delaying ruling on the gag order,” former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told The Daily Beast on Tuesday. “She’s delayed this case and ruled in Trump’s favor at almost every possible turn. She’s entertained arguments that no other judge would, and even allowed outsiders to submit briefs and argue in the case. Unfortunately, this latest delay is just par for the course for her, and another example of why she’s in over her head.”
