Lawyers for Ryan Routh, the man charged with attempting to assassinate former President Donald Trump at his Florida golf course, asked U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon on Thursday to recuse herself from presiding over the case due to a potential public perception of bias.
On Sept. 15, a Secret Service agent spotted the barrel of a rifle jutting through a brush-covered fence a few hundred yards away from where Trump was golfing at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. The agent fired in the direction of the rifle, and a witness allegedly spotted a man fleeing the area on foot. Routh was arrested later in the day by officers from the Martin County Sheriff’s Office.
In a motion filed in the Southern District of Florida, Routh’s lawyers argue that Cannon’s impartiality could be questioned due to her past judicial “relationship to the alleged victim.”
Cannon, a Trump appointee, presided over a 2023 case involving Trump earlier. In that case, the former president faced 40 felony counts related to his alleged retention of classified documents. Cannon ultimately dismissed the charges.
In both the 2023 case and Routh’s case, the same computerized system randomly selected Cannon to oversee the proceedings.
Routh’s defense argues that the connections highlighted in the motion, combined with Trump’s status as the alleged victim in the case and his ongoing presidential campaign, could create the appearance of bias.
The motion asserts that while Cannon may indeed preside impartially, “given the heightened stakes and the public scrutiny, there should not be any doubts about even the appearance of impartiality of the presiding judge.”
Should Trump win the presidency, he could have the authority to nominate Cannon to a higher federal court, Routh’s defense team argues.
The motion further notes that while Cannon has “little control” over how Trump responds to her decisions, he has praised her rulings on several occasions while on the campaign trail. Routh’s defense team argues that this praise might bolster the perception that Cannon is biased in Trump’s favor.
The filing cites Trump telling reporters, following a hearing to appeal a separate civil case in New York, that he doesn’t know Judge Cannon but thinks she is “a brilliant woman.”
“I wasn’t surprised because I don’t get friendly panels. I don’t get friendly panels, but where we’ve had fair judges, where we’ve had brilliant judges,” Trump told reporters last month. “Frankly, I don’t know the judge in Florida. Judge Cannon—don’t know her at all. But I think she’s a brilliant woman. I think she handled a scam. It’s a scam case. That’s the documents case.”
Routh’s lawyers argue that the case will attract significant media attention and that Cannon’s rulings will face intense public scrutiny. Trump is the Republican nominee in next month’s presidential election, which further complicates the optics, according to Routh’s defense team.
Routh allegedly staked out Trump’s golf course for 12 hours, hiding in the tall brush by a chain-link fence with a loaded SKS-style rifle and food. He is alleged to have had two bulletproof plates and a scope taped to his gun. Prosecutors described the setup as a “sniper’s nest.”
On Oct. 2, federal prosecutors asked Cannon for an indefinite delay in scheduling Routh’s trial. Cannon has scheduled the trial for late November.
