In his continuing conflict with the DOJ, Donald Trump was granted a special master by a federal court, who has come under fire from Marco Rubio.
The senator rejected allegations that Aileen Cannon was motivated by political considerations, which were made by many since the previous president had selected her.
He called the accusations the “latest example of hypocrisy from liberals” and praised her as a “wonderful judge” who he had passionately backed.
It happens after the Justice Department on Thursday filed a request to significantly limit her decision over what a special master appointed by the court would examine.
It was attempting to exclude a wealth of secret information discovered during the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago search on August 8.
Rubio’s office asked the judge to apply for the nomination
Rubio told the Washington Post: ‘Judge Cannon is a great judge who I am very proud to have enthusiastically supported.
‘The attacks against her are just the latest example of hypocrisy from leftists and their media enablers who believe the only time it is acceptable to attack a judge is if that judge rules against what they want.’
Rubio’s office invited the Florida judge to apply for the federal bench when she was shy of 40 years old.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is defending Judge Aileen Cannon, who ruled in Donald Trump’s favor on a getting a special master
She ended up getting confirmed with 12 Democratic votes in the Senate, as part of a last batch of conservatives Trump was able to install on the bench.
Rubio, the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has also gone after the Justice Department, accusing the agency of leaking about the raid on the former president.
‘These people every single day are strategically leaking information that can’t be rebutted by the way or in any way analyzed for a reason. And that’s politics to influence the narrative,’ Rubio told Fox & Friends this week.
Rubio defended Trump, who has called the FBI raid part of a ‘witch hunt’ against him, when Fox News host Steve Doocy asked about the latest report that the documents seized at the president’s private club contain materials about a nation’s nuclear capabilities.
The interviewer told the senator: ‘That doesn’t seem like the kind of thing you should have in your post-presidential desk drawer.’
‘First of all, again, we really don’t know, because let’s go back and understand that all of this information is coming from one side in one place. And that is sources with knowledge of the investigation or who are the sources of knowledge of the investigation, the FBI and the Justice Department and they are leaking to the media,’ Rubio said.
Judge Cannon was confirmed to a lifetime appointment before she turned 40. Her Senate hearing took place via zoom
DOJ has said documents seized during the raid include 100 classified documents.
Cannon, 41, ruled for Trump on Monday and gave the two sides until Friday to provide names for a potential special master.
Finding such a person could be difficult, in part because according to the FBI, information seized during the raid was classified at such a high level that some of agents who took part did not even have clearance to look at it.
Trump’s team wants a special master to review 11,000 documents seized during the raid to weed out material that might be subject to attorney-client privilege or executive privilege.
Cannon on Thursday indicated a willingness to limit the special master’s role, and asked both sides to report back
Legal experts bashed her first opinion saying documents were ‘presumably privileged’ and indicating she was inclined to rule for Trump. ‘Any of my first year law students would have written a better opinion, former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal said at the time.
The Justice Department is asking the judge to roll back her order in favor of former President Donald Trump’s request for a special master
The Justice Department released a blistering legal filing that included a photo of documents seized during the August 8 search of Mar-a-Lago
DOJ on Thursday asked Judge Cannon to reverse her own order – in a way that outside experts said could be a way to walk back her decision and avoid an appeal to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
They tailored the request to the classified materials alone, saying the special master could begin acting on other materials, either those that could implicate a privilege or be personal documents that aren’t critical to the FBI’s investigation.
In a separate Thursday filing, the FBI’s assistant director of counterintelligence Alan Kohler argued that allowing the FBI to conduct its own review is critical to the investigation, after the judge imposed a stay.
An FBI-conducted review, the Justice Department stated, ‘will enable the Government to assess the potential harms to national security resulting from any improper retention and storage of classified information.’
The Justice Department urged the judge not to hold up a national security investigation even while she allowed a separate Intelligence assessment was allowed to go forward.
It ‘would make little sense even if it were feasible, given that the same senior DOJ and FBI officials are ultimately responsible for supervising the criminal investigation and for ensuring that DOJ and FBI are coordinating appropriately with the [Intelligence Community] on its classification review and assessment,’ wrote counterintelligence chief Jay Bratt.
Cannon grew up in Miami and was born in Colombia. She attended the University of Michigan law school and worked at the firm Gibson Dunn for three years. She also worked as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida.
According to her Senate questionnaire, she had not done any media interviews other than an article about her wedding or sat on any panels at the time of her confirmation.
Under writings, she listed papers along with other members of her law firm, as well as newspaper articles she had penned about flamenco dancing and yoga. Under associations she listed Delta Delta Delta sorority, the conservative Federalist Society, The Moorings Yacht & Country Club in Vero beach, and a law school honor society.