The judges who approached Judge Cannon — including the chief judge in the Southern District of Florida, Cecilia M. Altonaga — each asked her to consider whether it would be better if she were to decline the high-profile case, allowing it to go to another judge, the two people said.

Two federal judges in south Florida urged Judge Aileen Cannon to forgo overseeing the criminal prosecution of former President Donald Trump when she was first assigned the classified documents case in 2023,