Former President Donald Trump’s confidential documents case was tossed out by a federal judge in a stunning move in Florida on Monday — eliminating one of his biggest legal liabilities just 113 days before the Nov. 5 election.
Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the case against Trump — a move considered especially significant because the charges were widely viewed as the most likely to score a conviction in any of the four cases against him — on the grounds that the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith to the prosecution violated the Constitution.
Former President Donald Trump, surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents, at a 2024 campaign rally in Butler, Pa. AP
“I am thrilled that a judge had the courage and wisdom to do this,” Trump told Fox News in an interview moments after the ruling. “This has big, big implications, not just for this case but for other cases.
“The special counsel worked with everybody to try to take me down. This is a big, big deal. It only makes the convention more positive — this will be an amazing week.”
The GOP presidential candidate, 78, faced up to 450 years in prison if convicted on all counts in the case.
Smith — who was appointed as special counsel by US Attorney General Merrick Garland — later vowed through his office to appeal the ruling.
“The dismissal of the case deviates from the uniform conclusion of all previous courts to have considered the issue that the Attorney General is statutorily authorized to appoint a Special Counsel,” spokesman Peter Car said in a statement.
“The Justice Department has authorized the Special Counsel to appeal the court’s order.”
U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon in her black robe.
Special Prosecutor Jack Smith addresses reporters after his grand jury has issued more indictments of former President Donald Trump
in Washington, DC. The Washington Post via Getty Images
In the meantime, Monday’s ruling also may affect the second federal case against Trump involving the Jan. 6 riots and his challenging of the results of the 2020 election.
Trump’s lawyers could seek to have the DC case tossed while pointing to Cannon’s decision — since Smith also was appointed to prosecute it in the same way.
“The Florida documents case was considered the strongest legal case against Trump because it did not involve novel theories of law,” said Cornell University Law Professor William Jacobson to The Post. “For the Florida case to be dismissed is a grave blow to the government.”
The ex-president was accused of hoarding troves of confidential documents at his Mar-a-Lago home after he left office and then attempting to cover it up.
Cannon ruled that Congress was required to appoint “constitutional officers” and the legislature was also needed to approve spending for such a prosecution.
“That role cannot be usurped by the executive branch or diffused elsewhere — whether in this case or in another case, whether in times of heightened national need or not,” Cannon wrote.
This image contained in a court filing by the Department of Justice on Aug. 30, 2022, and partially redacted by the source, shows a photo of documents seized during the Aug. 8 FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. AP
The judge wrote that “Special Counsel Smith’s investigation has unlawfully drawn funds from the Indefinite Appropriation.”
“The Special Counsel’s office has spent tens of millions of dollars since November 2022, all drawn unconstitutionally from the Indefinite Appropriation,” Cannon wrote.
“For more than 18 months, Special Counsel Smith’s investigation and prosecution has been financed by substantial funds drawn from the Treasury without statutory authorization, and to try to rewrite history at this point seems near impossible. The Court has difficulty seeing how a remedy short of dismissal would cure this substantial separation-of-powers violation, but the answers are not entirely self-evident, and the caselaw is not well developed.”
Walt Nauta, personal aide to former President Donald Trump, carrying boxes at the Palm Beach, Fla., estate. AP
The Trump-appointed federal judge cited Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ July 1 dissent in a ruling on presidential immunity, which suggested the special counsel appointment could be unconstitutional, in her decision.
Still, courts have previously repeatedly upheld the use of special prosecutors in politically charged cases. Garland said he appointed Smith to the Trump cases to try to thwart complaints of impartiality.
Cornell Law School Professor William Jacobson noted to The Post that instead of appealing Cannon’s ruling, federal prosecutors could also have tried to do an end-run around the judge’s ruling.
“As opposed to appealing it, they might try some procedural maneuver to get a special counsel appointed in the proper way, and one of those ways people are talking about is appointing a US attorney to prosecute the case, But I don’t know procedurally how that would work,” Jacobson said, adding that one question would be whether the case would need to start over from scratch.
Trump lawyer Christopher Kise crowed in a statement, “Judge Cannon today restored the rule of law and made the right call for our America.
“Jack Smith is not above the law and must be held accountable under the Constitution,” Kise wrote.
“From the outset, the Attorney General and Special Counsel have ignored critical constitutional restrictions on the exercise of the prosecutorial power of the United States. The Special Counsel has conducted a baseless, lawless, and politically motivated prosecution against President Trump. Judge Cannon made a courageous and correct decision. Jack Smith must now respect the rule of law, shut down his office, and end this unconstitutional abuse of power.”
Trump and his valet Walt Nauta were indicted in the classified records case in June 2023 following a dramatic FBI raid on his Mar-a-Lago resort in August 2022.
Walt Nauta, personal aide to former President Donald Trump, carrying boxes at the Palm Beach, Fla., estate. AP
In the DC case, Trump has already derided the federal Judge Tanya Chutkan overseeing it, claiming she is biased against him.
Trump also faces state election charges in Georgia on election-related counts, though it is unclear when or if that case will go to trial due to defense challenges to the role of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, an elected Democrat who previously hired her romantic partner Nathan Wade as lead prosecutor.
The ex-president was convicted in the final case against him on May 30 on 34 New York state charges for falsifying business records to conceal 2016 “hush money” payments. Trump has not yet been sentenced in that case and is vowing to appeal.
Hours before Cannon’s ruling, Trump told The Post’s Michael Goodwin that “we hear” that President Biden and the Justice Department — rather than the judge — would be dropping the case and additional federal charges related to the 2020 election after the failed assassination attempt against him Saturday.
Politicians on both sides of the aisles sounded off about Monday’s surprise decision, with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) blasting it as “misguided” and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) lauding it as the “right result.”
“This breathtakingly misguided ruling flies in the face of long-accepted practice and repetitive judicial precedence. It is wrong on the law and must be appealed immediately,” Schumer said. “This is further evidence that Judge Cannon cannot handle this case impartially and must be reassigned.”
Johnson said, “This is good news for America and for the rule of law.
“House Republicans repeatedly argued that Special Counsel Jack Smith abused his office’s authority in pursuit of President Trump, and now a federal judge has ruled Smith never possessed the authority in the first place,” the speaker said.
“As we work to unify this country following the failed assassination attempt of President Trump, we must also work to end the lawfare and political witch hunts that have unfairly targeted President Trump and destroyed the American people’s faith in our system of justice,” Johnson said. “This development is a critically important step towards that goal.”
House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) said in a statement, “Only Congress can create new officers and spend taxpayer money.
“I applaud Judge Aileen Cannon for having the courage and wisdom to dismiss corrupt Jack Smith’s unconstitutional witch hunt against President Trump.
“This dismissal is not just a win for President Trump but a triumph for the principles our nation was founded upon. Our country must come together and unite to end the weaponization of our justice system and restore equal justice under the law.”
The Department of Justice did not return a Post request for comment.
With Post wires
Source link : https://nypost.com/2024/07/15/us-news/trumps-florida-case-stunningly-dismissed-after-judge-finds-appointment-of-special-counsel-jack-smith-violated-the-constitution/
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Publish date : 2024-07-15 18:47:13
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