The federal judge overseeing Donald Trump’s classified documents trial is taking steps that could stock the jury box with the former president’s supporters.
U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon has set the upcoming trial to open on Aug. 14 at her tiny satellite courthouse in the northern reaches of her district, which stretches from the tropical Florida Keys to the citrus groves halfway up the state.
That decision means Trump’s jurors are set to be drawn from the most brightly red corner of a vast court district, plucked from a community that leans heavily Republican—instead of the highly populous and more Democratic urban areas further south.
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Cannon, the Trump-nominated judge who court officials said was selected at random to hear the case, is the only one of the Southern District of Florida’s 26 active judges assigned in Fort Pierce.
If her palm tree-lined courthouse in that city is the site of what may be the most politically significant trial in American history, the proceedings will take place 70 miles north of the oceanside mansion where Trump amassed sensitive national security documents without permission—even though the West Palm Beach federal courthouse is down the street.
The trial would also be a full 130 miles north of the federal courthouse in Miami, where a grand jury charged Trump with 37 felony counts stemming from alleged mishandling of classified documents.
Several Miami lawyers, some of whom asked to remain anonymous because they have active cases before Cannon, noted that Trump’s chances to win what otherwise appears to be an insurmountable criminal case increase the further north he goes.
“You drive around, and you’ll see ‘Trump’ flags and ‘Make America Great Again’ flying in front of houses,” said Paul Bernard, a criminal defense lawyer in Fort Pierce. “With Trump’s trial down this way, he’s going to have a bunch of supporters—and they’re going to make their way onto the jury panel.”
According to local court rules, federal trials in the Fort Pierce division draw jurors from five counties: Highlands, Indian River, Martin, Okeechobee, and St. Lucie.
It’s solidly MAGA country: all five counties voted heavily in favor of Trump in the 2020 election he ultimately lost, with Okeechobee topping out at 72 percent. Across the board, the former president nabbed 62 percent of the vote on average.
In increasingly Republican South Florida, Trump already had a good shot at landing a favorable jury. Although Miami-Dade County still leans blue, it has swung heavily toward the GOP, and right-wing extremist groups like the Proud Boys have permeated official party organizations there. Even Democratic strongholds like Broward and Palm Beach counties have become redder in the Trump years.
Cannon’s decision to keep the trial in her satellite courthouse isn’t exactly odd, given that she is based there—though the chaos likely to come with such a historic and sensitive trial is almost certainly better suited to the larger courthouses in Miami and West Palm Beach.
It’s possible Cannon might end up deciding to hold the trial at a venue more capable of seating the battalion of international journalists who plan to cover the proceedings—and deal with leftist protesters and angry Trumpists who’ve already shown their inclination for violence in support of their politician.
If she does not, however, Cannon’s decision to hold the trial in Fort Pierce, where Miami Beach’s reggaeton gives way to Lake Okeechobee rodeos, will have a significant impact on the course of the trial.
“In Highlands, they do dirt bike races. That’s the type of county that is. Super rural,” said Joshua Heller, a personal injury lawyer in the region.
“Overall, the jurors in these five counties are going to be more conservative than your Palm Beach or Dade jurors. And South Florida used to be very blue, but it’s not as blue as it used to be. Things have changed in the past five, ten years. Generally, we're going to be pretty conservative in this area,” he said.
Previously, Trump’s lawyers have been caught trying to take advantage of Cannon’s favorable turf in Fort Pierce by going out of their way to file a lawsuit there against his archrival, Hillary Clinton.
Cannon is already being watched closely because of her eyebrow-raising history with the former president who appointed her to the bench.
Last year, Trump’s team managed to draw Cannon as a judge when they sued to halt the Department of Justice investigation into the former president’s mishandling of classified documents.
The judge went on to issue head-turning orders which blocked the FBI from reviewing evidence special agents had already seized at Mar-a-Lago, a bizarre decision that earned her rebuke from legal scholars across the country and stymied the probe until an appellate court slapped it down.
Special Counsel Jack Smith and his team of federal prosecutors haven’t yet pushed back on Cannon’s decision to hold the trial so far away from all the action in the case, but it’s still early in the process. Smith could request that Cannon recuse herself, given that she was appointed by a defendant in the case.
Notably, the trial is not likely to actually kick off next month, given that both sides are expected to request additional time to prepare for battle.
Fort Pierce is the smallest of the Southern District of Florida’s five divisions, with the smallest jury pool to choose from. Local court rules say that the clerk must keep at least 18,000 voters’ names on the random wheel, which is updated every two years. It’s due for an update sometime in 2023.
These are the highly conservative counties of Florida’s Treasure Coast, so named after divers began finding the Spanish fleet’s long-lost treasure in its waters.
Okeechobee, for example, is represented by Rep. Scott Franklin (R-FL), who incorrectly blamed the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol on “anarchists”—but still refused to certify the legitimate votes that put President Joe Biden in office. Last year, no Democrat even ran against him; his only competition was a ham radio operator who self-identifies as a “constitutional conservative.”
According to lawyers familiar with the region, the ideological bent of locals could add a complex dimension onto Trump’s trial.
Bernard, the criminal defense lawyer, noted that his job is typically made more difficult because local jurors tend to side with cops, who frequently make up the only witness in a state criminal case.
“They tend to believe everything law enforcement tells them,” he said.
But the upcoming Trump trial presents a twist. Conservatives who normally tout their loyalty to police will be faced with a choice: whether to believe federal law enforcement or the former president they adore.
“It’s law enforcement versus Trump. A lot of it will come down to the panel and their politics,” Bernard said. “You may be pro law enforcement… until it’s a subject that hits close to home.”
