Judge dismisses Trump classified documents case
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The news: A US federal judge dismissed the criminal case accusing Donald Trump of mishandling classified national defense documents, ruling it should be thrown out because Attorney General Merrick Garland’s appointment of Special Counsel Jack Smith, who brought the case, was unconstitutional.
The context: Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, ruled Smith’s assignment violated the Constitution’s appointments clause since he was neither appointed by the president nor confirmed by the Senate. The ruling, which contradicts decades of legal precedent reaching back to the Watergate era, was delivered on the opening day of the Republican National Convention, where Trump will become the party's official presidential nominee.
It is an abrupt end to one of the most perilous and straight forward prosecutions the former President faced, and comes nearly two years after the FBI searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate after the government tried and failed to get back from Trump, classified documents from his time in office.
The dismissal adds to a series of recent legal victories for Trump, including the Supreme Court’s decision granting him, and all presidents, partial immunity.
The numbers: Trump is involved in 4 criminal cases concerning his business and political activities, including federal and state cases over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, his hush money case and the classified documents case. He is also involved in multiple civil cases.
What they said: Smith’s team is expected to appeal the ruling, The New York Times reported.
Trump celebrated the dismissal in a post on his social media platform Truth Social. In his pugilistic style, he argued all criminal and civil cases against him should be dropped “as we move forward in Uniting our Nation” after the assassination attempt against him on Saturday.
The source: The New York Times
