Prosecutors appeal against dismissal of Trump classified documents case

WASHINGTON - US prosecutors formally appealed on July 17 against a federal judge’s decision to throw out a criminal case, brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith, accusing Donald Trump of illegally holding on to classified documents following the end of his presidency.

Mr Smith’s office filed a notice indicating it would ask the Atlanta-based 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals to revive the case and reverse Florida-based US District Judge Aileen Cannon’s ruling on July 15 that

Mr Smith had been unlawfully appointed

by Attorney-General Merrick Garland.

Judge Cannon, who was appointed to the bench by Trump in 2020, ruled that Mr Smith’s 2022 appointment violated the US Constitution because Congress did not authorise Mr Garland to name a special counsel with the degree of power and independence wielded by Mr Smith.

The decision was the latest in a series of legal victories for Trump. On July 1, the US Supreme Court ruled that

Trump has broad immunity from prosecution

for official actions taken as president – a decision that has tied up another criminal case brought by Mr Smith involving Trump’s

attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss.

Trump is the Republican candidate challenging Democratic President Joe Biden in the Nov 5 US election, in a rematch from four years ago.

A Trump campaign spokesperson reiterated Trump’s previous call to dismiss

all four criminal cases against him

in the light of Judge Cannon’s decision.

Judge Cannon broke with decades of rulings by other federal courts that have upheld the authority of the attorney-general to empower a special counsel to handle politically sensitive investigations.

The practice has been used for decades by presidential administrations of both political parties. Special counsels have also investigated Mr Biden and his son Hunter Biden.

Judge Cannon’s ruling dismissed the charges against Trump and co-defendants Walt Nauta, a personal aide to Trump, and Carlos De Oliveira, a property manager at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida where the documents were found during an FBI search.

Trump was accused of

illegally retaining sensitive national security documents,

including records related to the US nuclear programme and potential military vulnerabilities, at Mar-a-Lago after leaving office in January 2021. Trump and the two co-defendants were also accused of obstructing an investigation into Trump’s handling of the material.

They had pleaded not guilty.

In addition to the two indictments obtained by Mr Smith, Trump faced criminal charges in a pair of other cases.

He became

the first former US president to be convicted of a crime

when a jury in a New York state court found him guilty in May of felony charges related to hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels to avert a sex scandal before the 2016 election. He faces sentencing in September. Trump also

faces state charges in Georgia

related to his efforts to overturn his 2020 defeat.

The two remaining criminal cases are not expected to be completed before the election.

Mr Smith, a public corruption and international war crimes prosecutor, was appointed to give investigations involving Trump a degree of independence from the Justice Department under the Biden administration. Trump’s lawyers have not challenged Mr Smith’s appointment in Mr Smith’s election-related case.

Six of the 12 active judges on the 11th Circuit were appointed by Trump. The 11th Circuit dealt Trump a defeat earlier over the classified documents. In 2022, before the charges were filed, a three-judge 11th Circuit panel reversed a ruling by Judge Cannon to appoint a third-party “special master” to vet evidence FBI agents seized during a search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property in Florida. REUTERS