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title: Judge Dismisses Trump Classified Documents Case | TIME
description: 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.
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* U.S.

# Judge Dismisses Trump Classified Documents Case

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<!-- video src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ZOQkNfZh.m3u8" -->
## Video: Judge Dismisses Trump Classified Documents Case

[Watch (HLS stream): Judge Dismisses Trump Classified Documents Case](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ZOQkNfZh.m3u8) (2:47)

![Judge Dismisses Trump Classified Documents Case](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/ZOQkNfZh/poster.jpg?width=720)

_Published 2024-07-15. 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._


---

Jul 16, 2024 2:27 PM UTC

---

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---


## Transcript

Had faced dozens of felony counts in Federal Court in Florida, accusing him of illegally hoarding classified and top secret documents at his Mara Lago estate in Palm Beach. There were records that were recovered all over the property in the bathroom, for instance, and really in all sorts of places that the federal government said were not supposed to proper repositories for really sensitive records. Trump has pleaded not guilty. He's maintained his innocence. And it is one of four criminal cases that Trump has faced. This was the year that began with a lot of sense that there might be significant legal consequences for the former president, but that's not really how it's turned out.

He's been convicted in just one of the four cases, a New York H hush money prosecution, but the sentencing there has been delayed. By virtue of a Supreme Court opinion that conferred broad immunity on former presidents. Another case in Atlanta, charged with plotting to subvert the 2020 election has really been on hold, made a review into the conduct of the prosecutor. And then the future of the other federal case brought by Jack Smith is also in doubt, in lieu of a Supreme Court opinion, it's going to really require a lot of work at the trial court level, and is almost certainly going to prevent a trial from taking place before the November presidential election.

Trump is already out with a statement saying that this is the first step in what should happen in all four of his cases, he says, A four are hoaxes and should be dismissed. But I do think it's worth noting that the dismissal here is not a reflection of the judge's assessment of Trump's guilt or innocence. This is a very legal and technical, even arcane argument from the defense team that said that the special counsel who brought the case, Jack Smith, that his appointment was illegal because he was selected by the Just Department, but didn't go through Senate confirmation. The Just Department, of course, says, that process is not necessary, and it's never been required under their own regulations, and other judges have never required it.

This is, of course, an order that can be appealed. And so there's every reason to expect that special counsel Jack Smith will do that really immediately. We'll file a notice to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to say that they are challenging this order and that they want the case to be reinstated. It's worth noting that That's actually already happened in the classified documents investigation before where Judge Cannon had appointed independent arbiter to review the classified documents that were taken from Mara Lago. And then a Federal Appeals Court actually then rejected that order, I rejected that appointment and benefited the ust rolling in the benefit of the Juste Department.

So there's every reason to think that the Just Department is, of course, going to appeal this.

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