In a significant legal win for the Republican former president as he pursues a run for the White House again, a federal court in Florida on Monday dropped all charges against Donald Trump, including those that he had unlawfully retained classified papers after leaving office.
According to Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, Special Counsel Jack Smith lacked the power to pursue the case since he was appointed to his position unlawfully. Smith is heading the prosecution.
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on July 1 granting Trump immunity from prosecution for many of his acts while in office, this was another monumental victory for Trump in the courtroom.
Two days subsequent to an attempted murder of Trump at a campaign rally in western Pennsylvania, Cannon issued his verdict. This week in Milwaukee, Trump will formally be proclaimed the Republican nominee for president, opposing Democratic president Joe Biden in the U.S. presidential election on November 5.
The decision will probably be appealed by the prosecution. On many occasions, courts have affirmed the authority of the United States Justice Department to designate special attorneys to manage certain investigations that are bound with political sensitivity.
A representative for Smith didn’t respond to a call requesting comment.
Cannon’s decision casts doubt on the case’s trajectory. While Smith is now facing charges in federal court in Washington, DC, against Trump, his attorneys have refrained from bringing a comparable challenge to the special counsel in the other case, which involves the former president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Following his departure from office in 2021, Trump was charged in the papers case on claims that he hindered government efforts to obtain secret national security documents and knowingly maintained them at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
The probe was further obstructed by two others: Carlos De Olivera, the property manager of Mar-a-Lago, and Trump’s aide, Walt Nauta.
The appointment of Smith to head investigations into Trump by Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2022 was contested by Trump’s legal team. They claimed that the appointment was unconstitutional as neither Congress nor the Senate had the authority to establish Smith’s office or confirm the special counsel.
Claiming that it was a well-established practice to use special counsels to conduct politically sensitive inquiries, lawyers in Smith’s office rejected Trump’s assertions.
“This ruling flies in the face of about 20 years of institutional precedent, conflicts with rulings issued in both the Mueller investigation and in D.C. with respect to Jack Smith himself,” stated Bradley Moss, an attorney who specialises in national security.
Also, according to Moss, the decision makes one wonder whether Smith will try to get Cannon removed from the case.
The most recent and far-reaching of Cannon’s rulings in support of Trump and voicing doubt about the prosecution’s actions is this ruling. Prior to this, the court had indefinitely postponed a trial as he considered a flurry of legal objections filed by Trump.
At a court hearing over Trump’s objection to Smith’s appointment, she made the rare decision to let three outside attorneys, two of whom supported Trump, to argue.
Justice Clarence Thomas, a conservative on the Supreme Court, gave Trump’s challenge to the special counsel a further support. Although Thomas concurred with the court’s decision to provide Trump extensive immunity in the election-related lawsuit, he raised similar concerns about the legitimacy of Smith’s appointment as Trump’s attorneys.
To provide some autonomy to the investigations into Trump from the Justice Department during Biden’s presidency, Garland nominated Smith, a prosecutor specialising in public corruption and international war crimes.
(Source: Reuters)
