www.cnn.com
Ruling is an outlier that embraced a longshot theory
The ruling from Cannon is an outlier that embraced a longshot legal theory that plenty of other judges have already rejected during previous special counsel investigations.
President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, attempted earlier this year to throw out his criminal cases based on the same theory that Trump brought before Cannon. (He is being prosecuted by a separate special counsel, David Weiss.) Federal judges in California and Delaware rebuffed his arguments, and federal appeals courts in both jurisdictions refused to get involved.
And during the Trump-Russia investigation, multiple Trump allies similarly attempted to derail special counsel Robert Mueller's work. But multiple federal judges in Virginia and Washington, DC, upheld Mueller's appointment.
Still, with all this history, Cannon held a hearing on the issue several weeks ago, pushing attorneys to explain exactly how Smith's investigation into Trump was being funded.
He's milking this for all that it's worth.