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A Florida judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging former President Trump's handling of classified documents.
Trump faced charges stemming from Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation into the possession of classified materials at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort. He has pleaded not guilty to all 37 felony charges brought in Smith's investigation, including knowingly retaining national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements.
“Former President Trump's motion to dismiss the indictment based on the unlawful appointment and funding of Special Counsel Jack Smith is granted pursuant to this order,” U.S. District Judge Eileen Cannon wrote in her ruling on Monday. “Because Special Counsel Smith's appointment violates the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution, the indictment is dismissed.”
After the verdict, President Trump told Fox News' Bret Baier, “I'm thrilled that the judge had the courage and the wisdom to make this decision, which has enormous implications not only for this case but for other cases.”
According to reports, some House Democrats have given up on Biden and have given up on Trump getting a second presidential inauguration.
This image included in the indictment against former President Trump shows boxes of records stored in the lake room bathroom and shower at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. (Department of Justice via Associated Press)
“The special counsel worked with everybody to try to take me down,” Trump added from Milwaukee, where the Republican National Convention is being held this week. “This is a huge deal. This convention will only get more positive. This is going to be a great week.”
The Appointments Clause states that “Ambassadors, other Ministers and Consuls, Justices of the Supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States shall be appointed by the President, with and by the Advice and Consent of the Senate, but the appointment of inferior Officers may be left to the President alone, or to the Courts, or to the Heads of Departments.” However, Smith was not confirmed by the Senate.
“After careful consideration of the fundamental issues raised in the motion, the Court is convinced that Special Counsel Smith's prosecution of this case violates two structural foundations of our constitutional system: Congress' role in appointing constitutional offices and Congress' role in authorizing statutory expenditures,” Cannon wrote.
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“The framers of the Constitution gave Congress a vital role in the appointment of major and minor officials. That role cannot be usurped or dispersed elsewhere by the executive branch, whether in this case or another, in times of national need or not,” she continued.
“In the case of lower-level officials, Congress has the power to determine whether to grant appointment power to agency heads, and in fact Congress has demonstrated the ability to do so in the context of many other statutes. But Congress has clearly not done so, despite the special counsel's aggressive interpretation of the statute,” Cannon added.
An aerial view of President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. (Associated Press/Steve Helber, File)
“After all, the administration's increasing familiarity with appointing 'regulatory' special counsels in recent years appears to have followed a haphazard pattern with little judicial scrutiny,” she said.
Earlier this month, President Trump requested a partial stay of the classified documents lawsuit brought against him following a US Supreme Court ruling that the president has broad immunity from liability for official business performed while in office.
Trump's legal team has asked a Florida court to suspend all proceedings in the case until the justices can apply the Supreme Court's immunity ruling to the facts of the case.
Trump, bleeding from the face and surrounded by Secret Service agents, was escorted off stage at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, July 13. (Rebecca Droke/AFP via Getty Images)
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Smith can appeal Monday's ruling.
Fox News' Brianna Herlihy, Anders Hagstrom and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.