A Florida judge appointed by Donald Trump has dismissed Monday the criminal case against him on charges of mishandling top secret documents, a stunning victory for the former president who immediately called for his other pending cases to be dismissed as well.
The decision effectively removes a major legal threat for Trump, who faces multiple criminal cases as he tries to regain the White House from US President Joe Biden.
It will add to his seemingly unstoppable momentum on the first day of the Republican National Convention, where he is set to become the party’s official nominee for president just days after surviving an assassination attempt.
In her ruling, Federal Judge Aileen Cannon said that Special Counsel Jack Smith was unlawfully appointed and that the case should be therefore tossed.
Smith was appointed as special counsel in 2022 by Biden-appointee Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Smith was tasked with overseeing the investigations into Trump’s handling of classified documents after he left office, and his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
The Trump-appointed judge made her ruling after lawyers for the 78-year-old argued for a partial stay of proceedings to allow for an assessment of a new Supreme Court ruling that a former president has broad immunity from prosecution for actions taken in their official role as president.
In a 93-page opinion, Cannon said Smith’s appointment and funding usurped the role of Congress, echoing a recent opinion put forward by Clarence Thomas, one of the conservatives who dominate the Supreme Court.
“The Court is convinced that Special Counsel Smith’s prosecution of this action breaches two structural cornerstones of our constitutional scheme — the role of Congress in the appointment of constitutional officers, and the role of Congress in authorizing expenditures by law,” she concluded.
“The clerk is directed to close this case,” the judge wrote.
– Election looms –
Cannon did not make a ruling on the merits of the case.
Critics have accused her of slow-walking the case.
The justice department is expected to appeal in a bid to have it heard by another judge.
The judge’s decision followed Trump’s win earlier this month at the Supreme Court with a ruling that gives former presidents broad immunity for their official acts while in office.
That decision has helped Trump in his quest to delay the trials he faces until after the November election.
These include charges in Washington and Georgia related to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
“This dismissal of the Lawless Indictment in Florida should be just the first step, followed quickly by the dismissal of ALL the Witch Hunts,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
Reaction to the decision was split down the ideological divide.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson hailed the ruling as “good news for America and the rule of law” and called on the government to halt the “witch hunt,” especially in the wake of the assassination attempt on Trump.
Eric Holder, who was attorney general under President Barack Obama, said tossing the case was “so bereft of legal reasoning as to be utterly absurd.”
The decision was “all about delay,” and the “incompetent” judge Cannon should be removed, he added.
In the Florida case, Trump was facing 31 counts of “willful retention of national defense information,” each punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
He also faced charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements.
Trump allegedly kept classified documents — which included records from the Pentagon and CIA — unsecured at his Mar-a-Lago home and thwarted efforts to retrieve them.
The material included secret nuclear and defence documents, according to prosecutors.
Republicans contended the prosecution was unfair and selective after a federal prosecutor in February opted not to pursue charges against Biden, who kept some classified material at his home after leaving the vice presidency in 2017.
