Former President Donald Trump’s charges over classified documents have been dismissed.
A new court filing released Monday morning showed that the federal ruling on Aileen Cannon, who is overseeing the case, issued the order on the grounds that Jack Smith had been misnamed.
In a ruling Monday, Cannon called Jack Smith’s appointment as special representative unconstitutional. It follows months of tension between Cannon and Smith and ends one of two federal instances Trump faces.
Trump praised the ad on his social media site, Truth Social, linking it to his killing in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
“As we move forward in unifying our country after the horrific events of Saturday, this dismissal of the charge of lawlessness in Florida will be only the first step, temporarily followed by the rejection of ALL witch hunts,” Trump wrote, mentioning his federal indictment. Washington for electoral fraud, among other instances that he faces.
“The Democratic Justice Department has coordinated ALL of these political attacks, which constitute an election interference plot against Joe Biden’s political opponent, ME. Let us unite to end all militarization of our justice formula and make America happy again! be wonderful!” he wrote.
In a tersely written decision, Cannon firmly rejected Smith’s argument that his appointment was legal. He said no federal law cited in the case gives the attorney general “the right to appoint a federal official with the kind of prosecutorial force exercised through Special Counsel Smith. “
“The special counsel’s strained legal arguments, his appeals to an incoherent story, or his use of out-of-circuit authority convince to the contrary,” he wrote.
Newsweek reached out to Cannon’s workplace, Smith’s workplace and Trump’s lawyer’s email for comment.
Trump was facing 40 federal fees in Cannon Court for his alleged handling of sensitive documents seized from his Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Beach, Florida, after leaving the White House in January 2021. He was also charged with obstructing the efforts of federal authorities. authorities. them. Trump has declared no blame on all charges.
Cannon wrote that Smith’s appointment and investiture were unconstitutional.
Its ruling followed a defense motion filed through Trump’s lawyers.
“The demanding appointment and assignment situations set forth in the motion raise the following initial question: Is there any law in the United States Code that would authorize the appointment of Special Prosecutor Smith to conduct this prosecution? After careful consideration attention to this basic question, The answer is no,” Cannon wrote.
He alleged that there is little oversight in the appointment of special counsels to prosecute ex-offenders.
“In the end, it appears that the executive’s increasing ease of appointing ‘regulatory’ special advisers in a more recent era has followed an ad hoc style with little judicial oversight,” he wrote.
Its 93-page ruling concludes: “After careful attention to the demanding basic issues raised in the petition, the Court finds that Special Prosecutor Smith’s pursuit of this action violates two structural cornerstones of our constitutional system: the role of Congress in the appointment of constitutional judges, officials, and the role of Congress in authorizing expenditures through law.
“The Framers gave Congress a pivotal role in the appointment of principal and inferior officers. 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.”
“In the case of lower officers, this means that Congress is required to decide whether to confer appointing force on a branch head, and in fact, Congress has shown itself quite capable of doing so in many other statutory contexts. But it is clear that he did not do so here, despite the special counsel’s tense statutory readings.
“Nor does his inconsistent ‘historical practice’ update the lack of textual authority for his appointment. “
Former prosecutor Joyce Vance and many legal analysts have accused Cannon, a Trump appointee, of apparent favoritism toward the former president.
He also accused of unduly delaying the trial.
His resolution will help Trump’s lawyers in their pursuit of a similar ruling in Washington, D. C. , where Smith is suing Trump for alleged fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
Trump charged with 4 counts of allegedly seeking to overturn the effects of the 2020 election in the lead-up to the January 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol. The presumptive Republican presidential candidate has pleaded not guilty and said the case is part of a political witch hunt.
The case is expected to return to Justice Tanya Chutkan on Friday after the Supreme Court ruled that Trump has broad immunity from prosecution.
Update 7/15/24, 2:01 p. m. ET: This article has been updated with more information, adding a new video and a copy of Cannon’s decision.
Sean O’Driscoll is a senior crime and court reporter for Newsweek based in Ireland. Its objective is to inform about American law. He has covered human rights and extremism extensively. Sean joined Newsweek in 2023 and has previously worked for The Guardian, The New York Times, BBC, Vice and others in the Middle East. He specialized in human rights issues in the Persian Gulf and led a three-month investigation into labor rights violations for the New York Times. In the past it was founded in New York for 10 years. He is a graduate of Dublin City University and is a qualified New York lawyer and Irish notary.
You can contact Sean by emailing s. odriscoll@newsweek. com. Languages: English and French.
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