Judge Aileen Cannon is accused of violating disclosure requirements

A report accuses Judge Aileen Cannon of again violating a federal disclosure requirement by secretly attending a seminar for right-leaning judges and requesting reimbursement for her travel expenses.

ProPublica reported Tuesday that Cannon attended a banquet at George Mason University's right-wing law school in 2023 – long after she was appointed to preside over the trial of Donald Trump's secret documents.

ProPublica reported that Cannon traveled to Virginia in May of that year to attend a lecture and have dinner with other members of the Federalist Society, Antonin Scalia's relatives and other conservative justices. The website reported that documents showed Cannon had made “multiple” requests for reimbursement to the Scalia-named law school.

Cannon's attendance at the event last spring was not disclosed until Tuesday, a move reportedly in violation of a 2006 rule that requires federal judges to disclose their attendance at partisan political events within 30 days and to post them on their court's website – something Cannon reportedly failed to do.

Cannon controversially dismissed Trump's classified documents case in July on the grounds that the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith was unconstitutional. The decision came as a shock to many at the time, with critics claiming the pro-Trump decision may have been the result of bias.

The appointment as Trump appointee in 2022 came under scrutiny for Cannon, 43, and her political leanings, with Democrats urging her to recuse herself from the case because she was appointed by Trump.

NPR was the first outlet to report in May of this year that Cannon had violated the same disclosure requirement by taking week-long trips to events at a luxury lodge in Montana – sponsored by George Mason – which she failed to disclose on her website in 2021 and 2022.

Court Clerk Angela Noble defended Cannon's appearances in Montana following NPR's report, claiming it was merely carelessness and technical problems that prevented Cannon from disclosing her travels on her website.

“Any omissions on the website are entirely unintentional,” she told NPR.

A Cannon employee also defended her in a statement this week. ProPublica, She claimed that the judge provided the required disclosures but inadvertently omitted them from her website.

“Judges are often not aware that they have to enter the information twice,” the clerk is said to have said.