Judge Aileen Cannon will preside over and manage Trump's appearance in federal court in South Florida next Tuesday. Trump nominated the judge, who is known to be close to the Republican Party, in April 2020.
Cannon has previously slowed down the Justice Department's investigation into Trump's wrongdoing. In September, Judge Cannon granted the Trump team's request to appoint an independent expert to examine material recovered by the FBI during a search last August from his home in the Mar-a-Lago resort. The court rejected the former president's claims that he had the right to keep them.