A Trump-appointed judge in Florida with previous experience in the Department of Justice’s investigation and subsequent Mar-a-Lago raid has been appointed to oversee the case. This comes as the case heads to court for what appears to be an indictment including several charges.

Judge Aileen Cannon, who received criticism from higher courts over some of her rulings involving the legal battles between Trump and the DOJ, could be “yet another unprecedented wrinkle” in the extremely unique case.

Trump appointed Cannon to the federal bench in 2020, meaning that, if Trump is ultimately convicted, she would be responsible for determining the sentence – which may include prison time – for the man who elevated her to the role.

[…]

Cannon is no stranger to the case. The 42-year-old judge appointed a “special master” last year to review those materials seized from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Legal experts accused Cannon of handing Trump a series of head-scratching victories over the course of those proceedings.

In one instance, Cannon restricted the FBI from using the seized classified documents as part of their ongoing probe until she completed her review. Cannon’s order was ultimately thrown out in its entirety by an 11th Circuit Court of appeals panel, which found she overstepped in exercising her jurisdiction in the probe.

Cannon’s isn’t the only familiar name on the summons, according to reports. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart’s name was also listen. He’s the judge who signed off on the warrant for the Mar-a-Lago raid in the first place. The fact that two judges are intimately familiar with the case may just make them the right choices. And because Cannon was appointed by Trump (and had given him favorable rulings in the past), the Trump team seems determined to fight to keep her over any opposition that may arise.

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A source close to Trump's legal team tells me that they believe Cannon is the judge in the case and that they'll fight for that

"We will appeal everything. Fight everything. As the [former] president said: it’s warfare.”https://t.co/a5neTdbVoL

— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) June 9, 2023

“If the case is being overseen by the same district and magistrate judges, that means the court likely considered the indictment to be ‘related’ to the search warrant and intentionally assigned it to those judges,” Brandon Van Grack, former senior Justice Department national security official, told ABC News, which has been breaking a lot of the earliest reports on the latest Trump indictment.