Trump classified documents case dismissed

The appointment of a special prosecutor was unconstitutional, a judge has ruled

Special Counsel Jack Smith’s prosecution of former US President Donald Trump over the alleged mishandling of classified documents has been thrown out, on grounds that Smith’s appointment was not legal.

Smith was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate Trump for supposedly keeping classified documents at his Florida home after leaving the White House, as well as probing an alleged conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election.

“None of the statutes cited as legal authority for the appointment gives the attorney general broad inferior-officer appointing power or bestows upon him the right to appoint a federal officer with the kind of prosecutorial power wielded by Special Counsel Smith,” Judge Aileen Cannon wrote.

The “strained statutory arguments, appeals to inconsistent history, or reliance on out-of-circuit authority” by Smith have not persuaded the court otherwise, Cannon added.

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