Aileen Cannon, the federal US district court
judge presiding over a hearing on the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation)
raid at former President Donald Trump’s resident Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach,
Florida, has agreed to grant Donald Trump’s request to appoint a special master to
go through the documents seized during the federal raid. The US Department of
Justice has opposed the appointment of a special master citing risks to
national security.

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Judge Cannon had given “giving serious consideration” to
Trump lawyers’ request for a special master, according to a POLITICO report.

Who is Aileen Cannon?

Aileen Cannon was appointed as a US District Court
judge by former president Donald Trump in 2020, in the final year of the Trump
presidency. Aileen Cannon was born in 1981 at Cali, Colombia. She earned a Bachelor
of Arts degree from Duke University and a Juris Doctor from the University of
Michigan Law School. Her law career began as a law clerk to Judge Steven
Colloton of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. She wrote
for The University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform from 2006 to 2007.

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Cannon is of Hispanic descent and her mother is
reportedly a Cuban refugee.

On April 29, 2020, President Donald Trump
announced his intent to nominate Aileen Cannot as a United States district
judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Prior to this, Cannon was an assistant United States attorney serving in the appellate
section’s criminal division in the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern
District of Florida from 2013 to 2020.  

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Aileen Cannon was nominated to the seat vacated by
Judge Kenneth Marra. She was confirmed by a 56-21 vote of the United States Senate
on November 12, 2020. Cannon was commissioned on the next day.