'Insane': Ex-Republican stunned over failed GOP 'gambit' involving Aileen Cannon
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody's "apparent gambit" to shove an anti-Justice Department lawsuit in front of a Trump-appointed judge has spurred accusations of corruption from a former Republican lawmaker.
Moody appears to have sought out Aileen Cannon, the federal judge who dismissed former President Donald Trump's classified documents case, by filing to her division a demand to investigate his accused attempted assassin Ryan Routh, Politico reporter Josh Gerstein said Thursday.
"JUST IN," Gerstein wrote on X. "Despite apparent gambit by [Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody] to get this case in front of Cannon by filing in Fort Pierce, it is assigned to Judge K. Michael Moore."
Court records confirm that Moore, an appointee of former President George H. W. Bush, received the case after it was filed in Fort Pierce.
Politico's analysis of the case details the highly political nature of the lawsuit, filed against U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, amid a "turf war" between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Florida investigators over the alleged assassination attempt at Trump's West Palm Beach golf course on Sept. 15.
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Just two days later, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an executive order mandating Moody seek state charges, according to Politico. Moody later received a demand from the FBI to stop.
Moody then filed a complaint Wednesday arguing the FBI violated the 10th Amendment, which prohibits the federal government from taking a state’s power, when it claimed jurisdiction to investigate a possible attack on a public figure.
According to Politico, Moody wanted a federal judge to either make a determination or declare the actions unconstitutional.
Gerstein's update Thursday suggests Moody wanted that judge to be Cannon, the jurist placed on Trump's shortlist for a major cabinet role after tossing the Justice department's Espionage Act case against him.
This analysis infuriated former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL).
"This is insane that one corrupt judge is now the GO TO for a political party," Kinzinger wrote. "Hopefully someday we look back and shake our head that this stuff was even allowed."