Ex-Trump White House lawyer says classified documents case delays show judge’s incompetence

Donald Trump’s former White House lawyer has attacked Aileen Cannon, the judge handling the ex-president’s classified documents charges, for repeated delays, attributing her rulings to “incompetence” and “perceived bias” and saying the case should have already come to trial.

Ty Cobb, the luxuriantly whiskered attorney who served as Trump’s counsel during former FBI director Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, said decisions taken by Cannon, a Trump-appointed judge in the US district court in Florida, virtually guaranteed that the case would not be tried before November’s presidential poll.

In an interview with CNN, Cobb said Cannon had delayed on issues that most federal judges would have long since dealt with.

“I don’t think this case will move at all,” he said. “And I think the fact that she’s scheduling hearings, multiple hearings, sort of one or two motions at a time is compelling evidence of that. Most federal judges would have long ago ruled on all the pending motions.

“And frankly, this is a case that should’ve started trial yesterday or two days ago when the original trial date was set. This case could have easily gotten to trial. Only her incompetence and perceived bias has prevented that.”

Trump, who is currently awaiting a jury verdict in a New York trial in which he is accused of falsifying documents relating to paying an adult film actor hush money, is charged with mishandling classified documents after he left the White House and obstructing an investigation to recover them.

While Cannon had denied efforts by the former president’s lawyers to have the case thrown out, she has drawn criticism from legal analysts and Democrats for taking months to rule on individual motions, slowing the case down in an election year.

Democrats say her actions serve Trump’s strategy of delaying a trial date beyond November’s election – in which he is once again the Republican candidate – and having the case annulled if he wins.

This month, Cannon postponed the trial date indefinitely, citing the need for the court to establish how classified information would be dealt with at trial – even though such procedures are covered in the Classified Information Procedures Act (Cipa).

“The court also determines that finalisation of a trial date at this juncture – before resolution of the myriad and interconnected pre-trial and CIPA issues remaining and forthcoming – would be imprudent and inconsistent with the court’s duty to fully and fairly consider the various pending pre-trial motions before the court,” she wrote.

Cobb, who was appointed Trump’s counsel despite not having voted for him, has previously criticised the conduct that has seen the ex-president facing 88 criminal charges in numerous cases.

“The facts are terrible. His conduct is reprehensible,” he told MSNBC in February. He has previously called Trump “the greatest threat to democracy that we’ve ever seen”.