The judge presiding over the case involving former President Donald Trump’s classified documents in Florida on Monday dismissed the indictment, siding with defense attorneys who said the special prosecutor in the case had been illegally appointed.
Judge Aileen Cannon’s decision brings an abrupt and astonishing end to a criminal case that was once considered the most dangerous of all those hanging over the former Republican president.
Trump faced dozens of charges that he illegally retained classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, and obstructed FBI efforts to recover them.
Defense lawyers had filed multiple challenges to the case, including a technical legal claim that special counsel Jack Smith had been illegally appointed under the Constitution’s Appropriations Clause, which governs appointments to certain public offices, and that his office was illegally funded by the Justice Department.
Cannon, whose handling of the case had raised questions even before the charges were filed, agreed, writing in a 93-page letter: “The Framers of the Constitution gave Congress a pivotal role in the appointment of principal and subordinate officials. That role cannot be usurped by the Executive Branch nor can it be diluted by any other agency, whether in this case or any other case, whether in times of greatest national need or not.”
Smith’s team had strongly rejected that argument to Cannon last month, saying that even if the judge rules in favor of the defense, the reversal should not amount to a dismissal of the entire case.
A spokesman for Smith’s team did not respond to a message seeking comment, and the Trump campaign offered no reaction.
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