Special counsel Jack Smith to appeal Trump classified documents case dismissal by Judge Aileen Cannon

Florida
federal

Judge
Aileen
Cannon
on
Monday
in
a
stunning
decision

dismissed
the
criminal

classified
documents
case
against
former
President

Donald
Trump
and
two
co-defendants,
ruling
that
the
appointment
of

special
counsel
Jack
Smith
as
prosecutor
for
the
case
violated
the
appointments
clause
of
the
U.S.
Constitution.

A
spokesman
for
Smith
said
the
Department
of
Justice
later
Monday
had
authorized
the
special
counsel
to
appeal
Cannon’s
decision
tossing
the
case
to
the
11th
Circuit
U.S.
Court
of
Appeals.

“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,”
said
Smith’s
spokesman
Peter
Carr.

Trump
was
accused
in
the
case
of
illegally
retaining
hundreds
of
classified
government
documents
at
his
Mar-a-Lago
club
in
Florida
after
leaving
the
White
House
in
January
2021,
and
trying
to
hide
them
from
government
officials
seeking
their
return.

The
bombshell
ruling
by
Cannon
—
who
was
appointed
to
her
judicial
seat
Trump
—
comes
two
days
after
a
would-be
assassin
narrowly
missed
killing
Trump
during
a
campaign
rally
in
western
Pennsylvania.

Cannon’s
decision,
which
also
tossed
criminal
charges
faced
by
Trump’s
valet
Walt
Nauta
and
Mar-a-Lago
worker

Carlos
De
Oliveira,
was
issued
hours
before
the
start
of
the
Republican
National
Convention
in
Milwaukee.
That
convention
will
formally
confirm
Trump
as
the
GOP
presidential
nominee
for
November’s
election.

“The
Clerk
is
directed
to
CLOSE
this
case,”
Cannon
wrote
in
her
ruling
in
U.S.
District
Court
for
the
Southern
District
of
Florida.

Smith’s
appeal
of
the
ruling
is
likely
to
be
resolved
only
after
the
presidential
election,
all
but
guaranteeing
that
Trump
would
not
face
trial
until
2025
at
the
earliest.

If
Trump
is
elected
president
in
November,
he
could
order
his
attorney
general
to
dismiss
the
case,
and
another
pending
federal
criminal
prosecution
in
U.S.
District
Court
in
Washington,
D.C.,
where
Smith
also
is
prosecuting
him
as
special
counsel.

Trump
is
charged
in
that
second
federal
case
with
multiple
felonies
connected
to
his
efforts
to
reverse
his
2020
election
loss
to
President

Joe
Biden.

Cannon’s
ruling
on
the
legality
of
Smith’s
appointment
is
not
binding
on
the
judge
in
the
D.C.
case,
Tanya
Chutkan,
but
is
certain
to
be
cited
by
Trump’s
lawyers
there
in
a
renewed
effort
to
get
that
election
case
tossed
out.

Chutkan
also
still
needs
to
rule
on
issues
in
the
case
in
light
of
a
dramatic
ruling
on
July
1
by
the

Supreme
Court
that
found
Trump
had
presumptive
criminal
immunity
for
official
acts
he
performed
as
president.
It
is
not
clear
yet
how
that
ruling
will
affect
the
election
case
against
him.

The
question
of
the
legality
of
Smith’s
2022
appointment
by
Attorney
General
Merrick
Garland
is
likely
to
end
up
before
the
U.S.
Supreme
Court.

Cannon
in
her
ruling
in
the
Florida
case
granting
a
dismissal
motion
by
Trump’s
attorneys
found
that
Smith’s
position
violated
the
Constitution’s
appointments
clause,
which
says
“Officers
of
the
United
States”
must
be
appointed
by
the
president
and
confirmed
by
the
U.S.
Senate.

She
also
ruled
that
Smith’s
use
of
“permanent
indefinite
appropriation”
—
funding
for
his
office
—
violated
that
constitutional
clause.

“Both
the
Appointments
and
Appropriations
challenges
as
framed
in
the
Motion
raise
the
following
threshold
question:
is
there
a
statute
in
the
United
States
Code
that
authorizes
the
appointment
of
Special
Counsel
Smith
to
conduct
this
prosecution?”
Cannon
wrote.
“After
careful
study
of
this
seminal
issue,
the
answer
is
no.”

“The
bottom
line
is
this:
The
Appointments
Clause
is
a
critical
constitutional
restriction
stemming
from
the
separation
of
powers,
and
it
gives
to
Congress
a
considered
role
in
determining
the
propriety
of
vesting
appointment
power
for
inferior
officers,”
the
judge
wrote.

“The
Special
Counsel’s
position
effectively
usurps
that
important
legislative
authority,
transferring
it
to
a
Head
of
Department,
and
in
the
process
threatening
the
structural
liberty
inherent
in
the
separation
of
powers.”

The
ruling
is
just
the
latest
in
a
series
of
controversial
decisions
by
Cannon
that
favored
Trump.

Trump
in
a
social
media
post
responding
to
the
ruling,
wrote,
“As
we
move
forward
in
Uniting
our
Nation
after
the
horrific
events
on
Saturday,
this
dismissal
of
the
Lawless
Indictment
in
Florida
should
be
just
the
first
step,
followed
quickly
by
the
dismissal
of
ALL
the
Witch
Hunts
—
The
January
6th
Hoax
in
Washington,
D.C.,
the
Manhattan
D.A.’s
Zombie
Case,
the
New
York
A.G.
Scam,
Fake
Claims
about
a
woman
I
never
met
(a
decades
old
photo
in
a
line
with
her
then
husband
does
not
count),
and
the
Georgia
‘Perfect’
Phone
Call
charges.”

“The
Democrat
Justice
Department
coordinated
ALL
of
these
Political
Attacks,
which
are
an
Election
Interference
conspiracy
against
Joe
Biden’s
Political
Opponent,
ME,”
Trump
wrote
in
the
Truth
Social
post.

Christopher
Kise,
a
lawyer
for
Trump,
in
a
statement,
said,
“Judge
Cannon
today
restored
the
rule
of
law
and
made
the
right
call
for
America. 
Jack
Smith
is
not
above
the
law
and
must
be
held
accountable
under
the
Constitution.”

“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,”
Kise
said.
“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.”

Senate
Majority
Leader
Chuck
Schumer,
a
New
York
Democrat,
blasted
the
ruling
and
Cannon.

 “This
breathtakingly
misguided
ruling
flies
in
the
face
of
long-accepted
practice
and
repetitive
judicial
precedence,”
Schumer
said
in
a
statement.

“It
is
wrong
on
the
law
and
must
be
appealed
immediately.
This
is
further
evidence
that
Judge
Cannon
cannot
handle
this
case
impartially
and
must
be
reassigned,”
Schumer
said. 

In
addition
to
the
two
federal
criminal
cases,
Trump
is
charged
in
a
state
case
in
Georgia
with
racketeering
related
to
his
attempts
to
reverse
his
2020
electoral
loss.

And
he
is
awaiting
criminal
sentencing
in
New
York
state
court
after
being
convicted
this
year
of
crimes
connected
to
a
2016
hush
money
payment
by
his
then-lawyer
to
porn
star
Stormy
Daniels.