The district judge’s decision brings a stunning and abrupt conclusion to a criminal case that, at the time it was filed, was widely considered the most perilous of all the legal threats facing the former Republican president.
A federal judge presiding over the case of classified documents Former President Donald Trump’s Florida trial dismissed the charge Monday, siding with defense attorneys who said the special counsel who filed the charges was illegally appointed.
The decision by District Judge Aileen Cannon brings a stunning and abrupt conclusion to a criminal case that, at the time it was filed, was widely considered the most perilous of all the legal threats facing the former Republican president.
Mr. Trump faced dozens of charges accusing him of illegally hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, and obstructing FBI efforts to retrieve them.
Defense attorneys filed multiple appeals, including a legally technical one that argued that Special Counsel Jack Smith was illegally appointed under the Constitution’s Appointments Clause, which governs appointments to certain government positions, and that his office was improperly funded by the Justice Department.
Judge Cannon, whose handling of the case had come under scrutiny even before the charges were filed, agreed, writing in a 93-page order: “The framers of the Constitution gave Congress a central role in the appointment of chief and subordinate officials. That role cannot be usurped by the executive branch or diffused elsewhere – in this case or any other, in times of heightened national need or otherwise.”
Smith’s team vigorously contested the argument in court before Ms. Cannon last month and told her that even if the ruling favored the defense team, the appropriate correction would not be to dismiss the entire case.
A spokesperson for Smith’s team did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and Trump’s team also did not immediately provide a statement.
Additional sources • adaptation: Serge Duchêne