A federal judge has ordered the dismissal of the case against former President Donald Trump over secret documents improperly stored at his Mar-a-Lago, Florida, mansion. Judge Aileen M. Cannon said the appointment of Jack Smith as special counsel in the investigation was unconstitutional, prompting the stay of the trial. The decision is likely to be appealed, with the case potentially ending up in the Supreme Court.
The ruling was issued today in conjunction with the start of the Republican Party Convention in Milwaukee, where Trump’s candidacy for the presidential elections to be held on November 5, 2024 will be made official. This closure of the case is just the latest in a series of favorable developments for Donald Trump in the legal field: already in July, the Supreme Court ruled that former presidents enjoy a “certain immunity” for actions taken while in office, thus avoiding prosecution for official acts. The consequences of this ruling are not yet clear, but they will certainly have a very significant impact on the other three legal proceedings against Trump.
Regarding the Florida documents issue, Trump had been formally charged in June 2023 with “withholding classified documents, obstructing the action of justice by destruction, alteration or falsification of documents, and violating the Espionage Act,” the federal law that punishes espionage crimes. Already in November 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice had appointed Smith to lead the investigation into Trump, including the issue of the documents found in Florida. Special counsels are semi-independent lawyers appointed for large-scale investigations in the event of potential conflicts of interest, enjoying greater autonomy than ordinary prosecutors, while remaining subject to the supervision of the attorney general who can remove them at any time. Judge Cannon ruled that since Smith had not been directly appointed by the president nor confirmed by the Senate, his role was completely illegitimate.
The investigation was triggered by a request made in February 2022 by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), a government agency responsible for preserving the most important documents in the history and government of the United States. NARA reported that at the end of his term, Trump had removed several official documents from the White House, some of which were classified or confidential and protected by secrecy, thus violating the Presidential Records Act which requires presidents to turn over all documents produced during their term to the National Archives. In August 2022, the FBI conducted a search at Mar-a-Lago, finding more than thirteen thousand documents in over twenty boxes, including at least one hundred classified as confidential and covered by secrecy, which should have been stored in government facilities. The Department of Justice explained that the search was carried out following evidence showing attempts by Trump’s lawyers to hide the secret documents present in the residence and evade delivery to the authorities. The seized documents included information classified as “top secret” or “sensitive compartmented information,” indicating highly sensitive and classified information, including details relating to a foreign state’s military defenses and nuclear weapons.
There are currently two other criminal cases pending against Trump: he has been accused of trying to influence the outcome of the 2020 presidential election and of manipulating the election results in the state of Georgia and since there are telephone recordings in which Trump speaks, a conviction seems likely even if the timing (see appeals), could become very long. Trump has already been found guilty in a third trial regarding payments made to pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels and not duly declared. Following the Supreme Court ruling regarding the partial immunity of former presidents, the sentencing in the trial regarding the payments has been postponed from July 11 to September 18.
