Washington [US], October 27: Former President Donald Trump urged two separate federal courts to toss out the criminal charges brought against him by special counsel Jack Smith, arguing in both instances that Smith was unlawfully appointed and did not have the legal backing to prosecute the cases.
Trump's requests were made to the federal district court in Washington, DC, which is overseeing the case stemming from the 2020 election, and the US appeals court in Atlanta, which is reviewing a lower court ruling that dismissed the separate case that arose out of the former president's alleged mishandling of documents marked classified.
In the case in Washington, Trump is seeking to file a motion to dismiss the four criminal charges brought against him based on the legality of Smith's appointment of special counsel. A district court judge in South Florida, who is overseeing the documents case, ordered an end to that prosecution in July after she found Smith was unconstitutionally appointed and funded.
The special counsel appealed that decision earlier this year, arguing US District Judge Aileen Cannon ruled incorrectly. He is expected to also oppose Trump's bid to toss out the charges stemming from what prosecutors allege was an illegal effort by the former president to hold onto power after the 2020 election.
The federal appeals court is set to decide whether to revive Smith's prosecution of Trump over his handling of sensitive government records and alleged attempts to obstruct the Justice Department's investigation.But in a filing with that court, the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, submitted Friday, Trump's legal team argued the ruling from Cannon, who was appointed by the former president, was sound and should stand.
"There is not, and never has been, a basis for Jack Smith's unlawful crusade against President Trump," his lawyers wrote. "For almost two years, Smith has operated unlawfully, backed by a largely unscrutinized blank check drawn on taxpayer dollars." They argued the appeal involved issues that present risks to the institution of the presidency and said the district court's decision was correct based on text, history, structure and practices.
Prosecutors allege Trump kept sensitive government documents at his South Florida property, Mar-a-Lago, after leaving the White House in January 2021 and stymied government efforts to retrieve the records. The special counsel also charged Trump and two employees with impeding the federal investigation. He and his two co-defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira, pleaded not guilty. Cannon dismissed the charges against all three defendants.
Trump has claimed that the criminal case against him is politically motivated and denied wrongdoing. He sought to dismiss the indictment on numerous grounds, including the argument that Smith didn't have the legal authority to file the charges at all because of the way Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed him in 2022.
Proceedings in the election case in Washington had been on hold for months while the Supreme Court weighed whether Trump was entitled to immunity from prosecution, but they resumed in September. In the wake of the high court's decision, a federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment that charged Trump with four felony counts but narrowed the allegations against him to comply with the high court's new framework for presidential immunity.
Trump pleaded not guilty. He is expected to again seek to have the case dismissed on immunity grounds, but in a filing Thursday, also argued that the charges should be tossed out because Smith was unlawfully appointed. The former president also wants the judge to prohibit the special and his office from spending any more public dollars. "Everything that Smith did since Attorney General Garland's appointment, as President Trump continued his leading campaign against President Biden and then Vice President Harris, was unlawful and unconstitutional," Trump's lawyers wrote.
Source: Qatar Tribune
