Judge Dismisses Trump Classified Documents Case

A federal judge has dismissed the case against former President Donald Trump for allegedly hoarding classified documents, arguing the prosecutor who brought the case was illegally appointed by the Justice Department.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, granted the defense motion to dismiss the case in a new court filing Monday, marking a significant legal victory for Trump in what many considered to be the most clear-cut of the four criminal cases brought against the former President.

Trump celebrated the dismissal in a post on social media, arguing that all the cases against him should be dropped. “As we move forward in Uniting our Nation after the horrific events on Saturday, this dismissal of the Lawless Indictment in Florida should be just the first step, followed quickly by the dismissal of ALL the Witch Hunts,” Trump wrote.

The ruling comes as Trump is set to be formally nominated this week at the Republican National Convention, and just two days after an assassination attempt on his life during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

Trump’s lawyers had argued that the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith violated the Constitution’s Appointments Clause because he was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland instead of being confirmed by Congress—an argument Cannon ultimately agreed with. “Upon careful study of the foundational challenges raised in the Motion, 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,” Cannon concluded in her 93-page order.

The Justice Department said they will appeal the decision. "The dismissal of the case deviates from the uniform conclusion of all previous courts to have considered the issue that the Attorney General is statutorily authorized to appoint a Special Counsel," said Peter Carr, a spokesperson for Smith's office. "The Justice Department has authorized the Special Counsel to appeal the court’s order.”

In the original indictment, prosecutors detailed accusations that Trump stored boxes containing classified documents in various locations at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida estate, including a ballroom, a bathroom and shower, his office, his bedroom, and a storage room. Among the records were details on foreign nations’ nuclear capabilities, information regarding defense and weapons capabilities of both U.S. and foreign countries, U.S. nuclear programs, potential vulnerabilities of the U.S. and its allies, and plans for possible retaliation in response to an attack, according to the indictment.

The indictment also details accusations that Trump twice shared classified information with people who lacked security clearances. In a recording that investigators obtained, Trump indicates that he understands that he cannot declassify records after leaving office and acknowledges that he possesses a classified record. Trump faced maximum sentences adding up to at least 100 years in prison and millions of dollars in fines, if convicted of the charges. He pleaded not guilty to the 40 felony counts against him, which include conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements.

Smith was appointed as independent special counsel in November 2022 by Garland, and was also tasked with investigating Trump in a separate case in Washington, D.C. related to his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Trump’s lawyers challenged Garland’s authority to appoint Smith, arguing that such appointments must be established by Congress and confirmed by the Senate.

Similar arguments were raised unsuccessfully against previous special counsels, including Robert Mueller, who oversaw an investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, and David Weiss, the special counsel overseeing the Hunter Biden prosecution. But Cannon ruled that the Justice Department has inconsistently appointed special counsels, writing that the “lack of consistency makes it near impossible to draw any meaningful conclusions about Congress’s approval of modern special counsels like Special Counsel Smith.”

“Very few historic special attorneys resemble Special Counsel Smith,” Cannon continued. “For starters, the title ‘special counsel’ is of fairly recent vintage. Special-attorney-like figures bore many titles throughout the decades. In the Court’s view, this is not an insignificant semantic detail.” She added: “For more than 18 months, Special Counsel Smith’s investigation and prosecution has been financed by substantial funds drawn from the Treasury without statutory authorization, and to try to rewrite history at this point seems near impossible. The Court has difficulty seeing how a remedy short of dismissal would cure this substantial separation-of-powers violation, but the answers are not entirely self-evident, and the caselaw is not well developed.”

The dismissal is the latest in a series of legal victories for Trump in recent weeks, following a landmark Supreme Court ruling that gave former Presidents broad immunity for their official acts while in office. Cannon’s decision comes two weeks after Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas suggested in a separate opinion in the presidential immunity case that Smith was given his job as special counsel without a legal basis. “If there is no law establishing the office that the special counsel occupies, then he cannot proceed with this prosecution,” Thomas wrote in a brief concurrence.

Cannon’s ruling could affect Trump’s other criminal cases. His lawyers are expected to request a similar dismissal in the Washington, D.C. case that Smith was also appointed to lead. That case is currently on hold pending a lower court decision. But Smith's office's appeal of Cannon’s stunning order to dismiss the case will set up a legal showdown that could wind its way up to the Supreme Court.

The documents investigation began after the National Archives found classified records in a batch of documents Trump returned in 2022, prompting the Justice Department to issue a subpoena demanding that he return any other classified material in his possession. Trump’s legal team produced about three dozen additional documents, but the indictment alleges that Trump’s lawyers did not have access to all of the records.

The case was assigned to Cannon, who was nominated by Trump and previously ruled in his favor in a dispute over whether an outside special master could be appointed to review the seized classified documents. A federal appeals panel ultimately overturned her ruling.

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