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Washington: Donald Trump will no longer stand trial for mishandling classified documents after a federal judge he appointed dismissed the case, ruling that the prosecutor overseeing the charges was improperly appointed.
This is a major victory for the former US president A few days after the assassination attemptJudge Erin Cannon, appointed by the Trump administration, submitted a court ruling on Monday dismissing the charges.
It was Trump’s second major legal victory in as many weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Granting substantial immunity to the president and former presidents Prosecuted for official acts performed while in office.
This image included in a court filing by the Justice Department shows documents seized by the FBI during a search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.Credit: Associated Press
Instead, it’s a major blow to special counsel Jack Smith, a former war crimes prosecutor who indicted Trump last year after highly sensitive documents were discovered at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
The documents included information on nuclear programmes and military weaknesses, as well as intelligence that was supposed to be shared only with “Five Eyes” nations, including Australia.
“After careful consideration of the fundamental challenges raised in the motion, the Court is satisfied that Special Counsel Smith’s prosecution of this action violates two structural cornerstones of our constitutional system—the role of Congress in appointing constitutional officers and the role of Congress in authorizing expenditures under law,” Cannon concluded in his 93-page order.
Special counsel Jack Smith and his prosecutors took pains to avoid any suggestion of political motivation.Credit: Bloomberg
Smith still has the option of appealing Cannon’s ruling, but legal experts have slammed the move. The Trump-appointed judge has long been criticized for making decisions that appear to favor the former president. She has also been accused of unnecessarily delaying cases and making proceedings lengthy and protracted.
In response to the decision, Noah Bookbinder, a former federal prosecutor and president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, said: “This is an illegal and irregular decision, without any statutory or precedent basis. This is very dangerous for future accountability and checks and balances. This decision should and will certainly be immediately appealed.”
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