Aileen M. Cannon, the federal judge overseeing the prosecution of a man accused of trying to assassinate former President Donald Trump, rejected the man’s request that she remove herself from the case, saying on Tuesday that she has no relationship with Trump even though he appointed her to the bench and she has ruled in his favor in a separate criminal matter.
Cannon denied the request by the defendant, Ryan W. Routh, in a brief decision issued in U.S. District Court in Fort Pierce, Florida. Routh was arrested last month in West Palm Beach after Secret Service agents spotted him carrying a rifle in the bushes along the fence line of one of Trump’s golf courses.
Routh’s lawyers first asked Cannon to remove herself from the case two weeks ago. In their initial request, they argued that Trump had “repeatedly praised” her rulings in a separate case in which he stood accused of illegally holding onto classified documents after he left office.
In an unexpected decision in that matter, Cannon threw out all the charges against Trump in July.
— The Associated Press