A judge in the US state of Florida today dismissed the indictment in which prosecutors accuse former President Donald Trump of illegally handling sensitive government documents. The American informs about it average, in which Judge Aileen Cannon ruled in a “shocking” verdict that special investigator Jack Smith, assigned to the case, had been appointed illegally. According to Reuters, the prosecution is likely to appeal.
The verdict in Trump’s favor comes a year after a grand jury, at the suggestion of Smith’s team, sent seven charges against the former president to court, including unauthorized storage of materials related to “national defense” or efforts to obstruct an investigation. When Trump left the White House in 2021, he had boxes of official records shipped to Florida and refused to return some of them. During a search of his house, the investigators also found materials marked as top secret.
According to the AP, a year ago impeachment was considered the most serious threat to Trump among several cases he faced. The relatively inexperienced Judge Cannon, who was appointed by the defendant himself at the end of his term, was put in charge of the case. She sided with Trump in a number of sub-steps in the preliminary phase of the process, one of those decisions she reversed higher instance.
Now Cannon has secured the ex-president another dramatic victory in the legal field, writes Reuters. It comes shortly after the US Supreme Court largely ruled in his favor on immunity from prosecution, significantly complicating federal prosecutors’ case surrounding his efforts to change the outcome of the last presidential election. A court in New York subsequently delayed the announcement of Trump’s sentence in the case of falsifying business records.
Ex-president in his first reaction today’s verdict was linked to the “unification of our country after the appalling events of Saturday”, when he was assassinated at a pre-election rally. “Dismissing the Florida wrongful conviction should be just the first step,” Trump said. He added that the courts should also throw out his two election indictments or jury verdicts, according to which he committed falsification of documents and sexual assault.
In today’s 93-page the verdict Judge Cannon upheld the Trump team’s argument that the federal Justice Department appointed investigator Smith in violation of the U.S. Constitution. The decision also applies to two other defendants who, according to the prosecutor’s office, helped the ex-president hide classified documents.
The ex-president’s lawyers also argued in court that the department improperly funded Smith’s operation. Smith’s team vehemently rejected those arguments when they were heard in court last month. Cannon can appeal the decision, with the opportunity to ask a higher court to remove her from the case, a move that has long been speculated about.
Smith is also prosecuting Trump in connection with his efforts to overturn the result of the last presidential election, in which case the judge did not express any reservations against his appointment. At the same time, in other cases, American courts have repeatedly supported the Justice Department’s ability to appoint special investigators in certain politically sensitive cases.
The New York Times as well as the AP today’s decision marked as striking because it “goes completely against previous court decisions that have supported the legitimacy of independent prosecutors” since the era of the Watergate scandal. However, it has been clear for a long time that the Florida trial will not reach a verdict due to delays before the November presidential election, in which Trump wants to seek re-election.
Source: www.tyden.cz
