MIAMI, Fla.—U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon on Monday, July 15, dismissed the classified documents case against former President Donald J Trump stating that special counsel Jack Smith’s appointment was unconstitutional.
“The Court is convinced that Special Counsel’s Smith’s prosecution of this action breaches two structural cornerstones of our constitutional scheme—the role of Congress in the appointment of constitutional officers, and the role of Congress in authorizing expenditures by law,” Judge Cannon wrote.
As part of a federal investigation into allegations of the removal of classified documents from the White House when he left office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided Mar-a-Lago, the home of former President Donald J. Trump, on August 8, 2022.
The items seized were recorded as documents marked “Top Secret,” “Secret,” “Confidential,” and “Classified/TS/SCI.” It is unknown if the documents seized by the FBI raid are in fact still classified by the time of the raid and/or during the period these were in possession of the 45th President after leaving office.
The warrant was issued to seize “all physical documents and records constituting evidence, contraband, fruits of crime,” as part of a federal investigation of whether the 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, illegally removed classified documents from the White House upon leaving office.
Trump pled not guilty last year after Smith charged the former president with taking classified documents from the White House and resisting the government’s efforts to retrieve the materials.
