Classified documents case dismissed

Updated July 15, 2024, 10:28 a.m. ET59 minutes ago59 minutes ago

Alan Feuer

A major legal threat against Trump is dismissed. Here’s the latest.

A federal judge dismissed in its entirety the classified documents case against former President Donald J. Trump on Monday, ruling that the appointment of the special counsel, Jack Smith, had violated the Constitution.

In a stunning ruling, the judge, Aileen M. Cannon, found that because Mr. Smith had not been named to the post of special counsel by the president or confirmed by the Senate, his appointment was in violation of the appointments clause of the Constitution.

The ruling by Judge Cannon, who was put on the bench by Mr. Trump, flew in the face of previous court decisions reaching back to the Watergate era that upheld the legality of the ways in which independent prosecutors have been named. And in a single swoop, it removed a major legal threat against Mr. Trump on the first day of the Republican National Convention, where he is set to formally become the party’s nominee for president.

Mr. Smith’s team will almost certainly appeal the ruling by Judge Cannon throwing out the classified documents indictment, which charges Mr. Trump with illegally holding onto a trove of highly sensitive state secrets after he left office and then obstructing the government’s repeated efforts to retrieve them.

Mozart

I mentioned he dismissal issue in my thead as well.   But th Judge was already miffed by the other two actions and the conduct of the Justice Department and the FBI in this case.  

I  also believe  that the system of lawmaking by the biraeaycrats is wrong,    But such regulations must be gazetted and submitted for prior approval by the legislature.   Regulations are a form of lawmaking which is n fact a fucction of Congress and not the bureaucracy.

The practice to rule by mandates and bureauratic abuse of power are unconstotutionaa             

The legal point was the protocol for appointing the special prosecutor. A classic case of checks and balances in the system. A conservative judge finds a reason to dismiss this case, which was always a ‘crime’ in clear view. In the meantime Biden’s  garage was given a pass.

So in one case we have Biden holding classified documents going back to his Senate days, VP eight year term and found everywhere by the FBI even though they informed President Biden of the intended search of his residences (plus his garage) and not being charged due to his so called memory loss.

But in President Trump's case with the classification documents secured under lock plus having an additional lock installed under a request from Bidens DOJ are grounds for legal action.

The armed FBI searching everywhere including President Trumps wife's underware draw.

?

We all know that this is a Biden, DOJ and FBI set up directed from Biden WH with Smith being recorded as visiting the WH on numerous occassions for what reason other than to consult with the above department heads to get his marching orders in his prosecution of President Trump.

What does the SP need to go to the WH for might I ask.

Mozart

I think that the issue relates to the fact Special Councill appointments had a n impact on state finances and that Congress control.   For that purpose the function is not an unelected  bureaucracy function.   

That horrifies the  Burueaucrats since it is against their interests nd effectually their political partners.   .    

But in President Trump's case with the classification documents secured under lock plus having an additional lock installed under a request from Bidens DOJ are grounds for legal action.

A bathroom and a ballroom stage are not exactly what one would call secure.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/photos-from-trump-indictment-show-boxes-of-classified-documents-stored-in-mar-a-lago-shower-ballroom#:~:text=lago%2Dshower%2Dballroom-,Photos%20from%20Trump%20indictment%20show%20boxes%20of%20classified%20documents%20stored,%2Da%2DLago%20shower%2C%20ballroom&text=The%20indictment%20unsealed%20on%20Friday,%2C%20storeroom%2C%20office%20and%20bedroom.

Yes then of course we had FBI planted DOCUMENTS. They called it evidence Tampering.

Then we have the fact that President Trump was coveted by the Presidential records Act tat has NO felony provisions. Bidrn was not covered by this Act when he was a Senator. Norcas VP.

I wonder if that corrupt DOJ will try again?

The disgraceful Lawfare against Trump is crashing.

Hoping Trump Sets up many special councils to fully investigate the corrupt treasonous Demonrats. It must happen to teach these scumbags a big lesson. 

So it took Cannon over 1 year to establish that due process was not followed.
Everyone knows that if this made it to trial, the jury would have convicted Trump. It is an open and closed case. He should not have had these documents, and when requested should have returned them right away.

The judiciary in the States is very independent. Sure the hand picked jury might have convicted him. But this wasn’t a crime it was a disagreement about the law, elevated into a crime for political reasons. And now dismissed on purely technical grounds.

In this instance common sense prevailed.

The US is not what it once was. It used to be the flagship of democracy, but no more.

It has now become an authoritarian place owned by billionaire oligarchs who can merge competitors to boost share value through monopolies or price-fixing oligopolies with the same shareholders. This removes the checks and balances in the economy - like reducing competition to prevent wage increases. This results in lower salaries or offshoring to other countries like India and China, which have higher GDPs and improved living standards.

Many members of the Supreme Court are bribed—it's not just differences in ideology affecting decisions.

The social fabric is starting to unravel American society. While it has Big Tech, these companies primarily serve the stock market, not the majority of society. While Americans cheer their stock market on, their society is falling apart. 

The facts has been explained in detail before.

The Constitution of the USA are very clear on the issue of the split between the Executive.buraurcy, the  legislative and the Judisticial components of Gpvernment.\

The key element in the Cosntitution is that legislation in all firms as elected by the people are reponsible for final legislature approval and be kept accontting to the voters as their elected  representatives. 

Both the Executive and the Bureaurcy got to a stage that they compi;e regia;tions - another form of lawmaking and presidntial mandates undermine  on flimsy grounds when it comes to themselves approving legoslaion is unconstitutional,   Both should report to the legislators for approval of mnadates and impementation of regulations.

That policy apply to all Constitutions of Democratic counries - yet in all countries the bureaucracy ends up makng legislation in the form of regulations. and act as if they are binding.   A Supreme Court ruled against the Bureaucracy as being  uncomstitutional when the Department concerend for fines fishermen had to pay based on regulation,

What went missing in the USA over the past 30 years in the USA has been that regulations are used by the bireaucratrs wiithout the approval of their regulations by the legisature.   For centiuries that principle was not applied in the last 30 years.

That issues end up in the Supreme Court now because there was no similar cases in the history of the USA before and the Boden opened a hormest nest by their actions pver th alst few year.  The Dision has no similar types of justm,ents to make.    They want the legislature to pass legislation to clarify a ground for action that the court can rule on making sure that all they propos and approve is Constitutional and legislative control remans the responsibbility of Congress,     .         .          .        

@Mozart

It (Judiciary) does not sound very independent if a "hand-picked" jury is possible.
It certainly does not sound like you believe that it is independent if a "hand-picked" Jury is possible.

Hall Of Fame

41974 posts

The judiciary in the States is very independent. Sure the hand-picked jury might have convicted him.

It (Judiciary) does not sound very independent if a "hand-picked" jury is possible.
It certainly does not sound like you believe that it is independent if a "hand-picked" Jury is possible.

The Judiciary isn't the jury. It refers to Judges and the legal system in general.

And the term hand picked refers to the process where both the prosecution and defence team try to pick and have removed a certain number of people from the jury pool selected for the case. Both sides try to slant the jury in the way they believe is most favourable to them. Its an entirely normal process as well, done in many countries. 

Though the way Moz refers to it is kind of disingenuous. He says it in way that it sounds like a Jury could specifically be picked to find Trump guilty, as opposed to what is, standard procedure. 

You could say "Sure the hand-picked jury might have convicted him" to cast doubt on any case in America.

@Stav, that is what I was saying. If a rigged jury can be picked, it is not independent. 
It would have no integrity - and defeat the point of having a jury. 

Serious crimes are prosecuted using Juries - rather than just a judge- so that the government can say they did not convict the defendant, the jury did. It is a check and balance of Democracy

FOUR MORE YEARS.

Get with it and enjoy the ride aboard the PRESIDENT  TRUMP MAGA express.

Yeah I get ya Shark.

What is independent? Select a jury in New York and one in Texas and it’s very possible you get a different result from jurors following their consciences. Trump was found guilty of hush money in a NY court by a NY jury, which may very well have been totally honest. But other juries may have reached a different conclusion.

The world is a complicated place.

No doubt a former president would get different juries in different areas, but the jury is going to be from where the purported crime happened. 

All Trump had to do was give the documents back. 

When it came to the classified documents case, Trump actually had classified documents in 3 different locations, so Smith could of tried to have the trial in another location. He choose Florida as the largest number of documents where there. 

Its also speculated that he choose Florida as assumed had he chosen the other possible locations Trump would of appealed to have it moved to Florida anyway and it would of delayed the trial. He hoped to avoid delays be going to Florida. He didn't factor in the 1 in 3 chance that Aileen Cannon would be assigned the Judge for the trial.

Stav\

You apparantly do not understand that the USA and that is a division of power to be beween - 

*    the Law approval fuction - ie  Congress

*    the Executive and bureaucracy - ie the Administration that has to execute what Congress approved' and

*     an independent judiciary.

What bothered the Supreme Court and other courts as well was the tendecy of  the Executiv to rule through presidntial mandate and the bureaucracy undertaking lawmaking through regulations.  

In Constitutional Democracy tha is very necessary and in a number of fact it is expecially the unelected bureaucracy wrtoe their own laws.    What happened in the past was that all mandates and especially regulationof bureaucracy was approved by Congress.    That separaion ofpower policy is distrurbed by uneleced peoplle.

In the case of immunity the issue was a first in the history of the USA that such a decision should be in the form of Congress  deciding to ensure specitic power of all Presidents should be defined.   The Court suggested that the Presidnt imunity of all decisions relating to his official duties as was the practice since USA Indepedence,   Congress must go further with dealing when personal decisions come into the picture.     The Court believes it is not possible for the Court to interfere with the powers assigned to the legislature by writing laws for the  USA,

Unfortnate;y Smith made a huge mistake shen he proposed that immunty as to all decisions is a problem tha got him into serous ly poor situation got him in a poor situation.   He was tod by the Suprme Court to go through normal process in dealing with the case/   That can be doe through ttaking up the matter hrough he District Court - thn process wasstarted wih the lower courts  and in both levels the Judges accepted the immunity issue involved Constitutionl  and should be dealt with by the Supreme Court.   Since Smith had no idea what functions re;ates to oddicial desccsions and mixed up his chages could jeopardise the functioning of all future Presidnts.   

In the case of the document issue the signs that the case  would be dismissed months ago aas the court became aware of the fact that  the FBI muddled up tha case by giving the media nt taken at Ma-ek-Lago but elsewhere -eg fake photos - such as the two with highly classified documents  ahowing on the f;poor and stored in a toilet  serving  the Mar-el-Lago reception area.   However the main problem at the time was that the FBI - having  taken 32 boxes full boxes from Mr-el=Large was insrructed by the Court to reurn al;l documents from Mar-el-Lago to the court/    Afer delayng the matter for over a monh the FBI retyrned 21 boxes of documents and in sme boxe docyments were missing,     Th Jdge hen ruled that the trial be d3laye indefiniwely until thr FBI rturn all document as instruccccted by the Court.and in view of the misconduct by the FBI sge then decided to hear evidence on the process followed by the Justice Department of which the FBI is part.   She then - bearing in mind the opinion added to the  Supreme Court as to appointment of Special Council means that I take powers away that belong to the legislature',

If the Attorney General or his staff appoint a Speoial  Council the AG or his staff wants such an appointment theymust sbmit full reasons and why the case cannot be done internslly by the Department - as well as the finacial impact would be and Coingress must then decide whether the Special Council should be appoinmted and why/    

              .