A Florida judge on Monday dismissed the criminal case against Donald Trump for mismanagement of classified documents, alleging that the way in which the case’s chief prosecutor, Jack Smith, was appointed was incorrect.
The decision by Judge Aileen Cannon is a huge victory for the former president, who had been charged with endangering national security by taking classified documents with him after leaving the White House. It also brings to an abrupt and stunning end a criminal case that was once considered the most dangerous of all those hanging over the former Republican president.
Cannon made his decision after lawyers for the 78-year-old former president asked for a partial stay of the case to allow for an evaluation of a Supreme Court ruling that a former president has broad immunity from prosecution.
Trump faced dozens of charges that he illegally retained classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, and obstructed FBI efforts to recover them.
“Former President Trump’s motion to dismiss the impeachment based on the illegal appointment and financing of special counsel Jack Smith is GRANTED (capital letters are included in the ruling, editor’s note)“Aileen wrote in her order.
“The indictment is DISMISSED because Special Counsel Smith’s appointment violates the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution”.
Defense lawyers had filed multiple challenges to the case, including a technical legal claim that special counsel Jack Smith had been illegally appointed under the Constitution’s Appropriations Clause, which governs appointments to certain public offices, and that his office was illegally funded by the Justice Department.
Cannon, whose handling of the case had raised questions even before charges were filed, agreed, writing in a 93-page letter: “The framers of the Constitution gave Congress a fundamental role in the appointment of principal and subordinate officials. That role cannot be usurped by the Executive Branch nor can it be diluted by any other agency, whether in this case or in any other case, whether in times of greatest national need or not.”.
Smith’s team had strongly rejected that argument to Cannon last month, saying that even if the judge rules in favor of the defense, the reversal should not amount to a dismissal of the entire case.
A spokesman for Smith’s team did not respond to a message seeking comment, and the Trump campaign offered no reaction.
The news comes less than two days after Trump survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, and as he is set to be officially announced as his party’s nominee for the presidential election in November at this week’s Republican National Convention.
In the Florida case, Trump faced 31 counts of “intentional withholding of national defense information”, each punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
He was also charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements.
Trump allegedly kept classified documents – including Pentagon and CIA records – without adequate protection at his Mar-a-Lago mansion in Florida, and obstructed judicial efforts to recover them.
With information from AP and AFP
Source: Gestion
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