Federal judge dismisses Trump secret documents case over concerns about prosecutor appointment

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge presiding over a classified documents case against former President Donald Trump in Florida dismissed the indictment Monday, siding with defense attorneys who said the special counsel who brought the prosecution was illegally appointed by the Justice Department.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s decision, which is subject to appeal and could be overturned by a higher court, brings a shocking and abrupt end, at least for now, to a criminal case that, at the time it was filed, was widely considered the most dangerous of all the legal threats the former Republican president has faced.

Though the case has long been at a standstill, with the prospect of a trial before the November election seemingly unlikely, the judge’s ruling is a huge legal victory for Trump, who is recovering from his failed assassination attempt over the weekend and preparing to accept the Republican nomination in Milwaukee this week.

Trump faces dozens of felony charges in one of four criminal cases, accusing him of illegally collecting secret documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, and hindering the FBI’s efforts to recover them. He has pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.

Defense attorneys have filed multiple objections in the case, including a legal technicality alleging that Special Counsel Jack Smith was appointed unlawfully under the Appointments Clause of the Constitution because he was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland rather than confirmed by Congress, and his office was improperly funded by the Department of Justice.

“The position of Special Counsel effectively usurps this important legislative authority, transferring it to the Head of Department, thereby threatening the structural freedoms inherent in the separation of powers,” Cannon wrote in a 93-page order granting a defense motion to dismiss the case.

“If the political authorities wish to grant the Attorney General the authority to appoint Special Prosecutor Smith to investigate and prosecute this matter with the full powers of the United States Attorney, there is an effective way to do so,” she added.

She added that such a mechanism requires congressional approval.

The order is another example of how Cannon, a Trump appointee, has handled the case in a way that benefits the former president.

She drew heightened scrutiny during an FBI investigation when she appointed an independent arbitrator to review secret documents recovered during an August 2022 search of Mar-a-Lago. That decision was overturned months later by a unanimous federal appeals panel.

Since then, she has been slow to issue rulings — favoring Trump’s strategy of securing delays — and has considered defense arguments that experts say other justices would have dismissed without hearings. In May, she indefinitely canceled the trial date amid a series of unresolved legal issues.

Smith’s team vigorously opposed the Appointments Clause argument during Cannon’s hearings last month, telling the judge that even if he ruled in favor of the defense team, the proper correction would not be to dismiss the case. Smith’s team also noted that the position has been rejected in other courts in connection with other prosecutions brought by other Justice Department special counsels.

Cannon, however, was unconvinced and called the prosecution’s claims “far-fetched.”

“Both the nomination and allocation issues in the motion raise the following threshold question: Is there a statute in the United States Code that authorizes the appointment of Special Counsel Smith to conduct this proceeding?” she said. “After careful consideration of this critical issue, the answer is no.”

A spokesman for Smith’s team did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday, and Trump’s team also did not provide immediate comment.

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Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed to this report.

Eric Tucker, Associated Press