The judge presiding over former President Trump’s classified records case is holding a hearing on Friday to consider whether a US special counsel should be appointed Jack Smith and that funding of their investigation is “unlawful.”
Judge Aileen Cannon The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida had indefinitely postponed litigation arising from Smith’s investigation into Trump’s alleged improper retention of classified records.
In adjourning the trial, Cannon set deadlines for submitting reports on June 10 and 17 and scheduled a hearing on Friday without evidence on a motion to dismiss “on the grounds of the illegal appointment and funding of the special counsel.”
Cannon extended Friday’s hearing to give his friends, as well as Trump’s defense lawyers and federal prosecutors, a chance to argue their case before the court.
Donald Trump and Jack Smith (Getty Images)
Former Attorney General Ed Meese, who served under former President Reagan, filed an amicus brief in the case, in which he argued that Attorney General Merrick Garland’s appointment of Smith as special counsel – who was a private citizen at the time – violated the Appointments Clause of the Constitution.
Garland appointed Smith as special counsel on November 18, 2022 — just days after Trump announced he would run for president in 2024.
“Devoid of the authority of the federal government, Smith is a modern-day example of the naked emperor,” the brief states.
They argued that, “Having been improperly appointed, he has no more standing to represent the United States before this Court than Bryce Harper, Taylor Swift, or Jeff Bezos.”
Federal judge postpones Trump’s classified records trial with no new date
Attorney General Merrick Garland testifies during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (AP/Jacqueline Martin)
Meese argues that the “illegality” of Smith’s appointment “is sufficient to vindicate Smith’s petition, and the Court should deny review.”
Meese and company noted in the brief that Smith was appointed to “conduct an ongoing investigation into whether any person or entity (including former President Trump) violated the law in connection with efforts to interfere with the lawful transfer of power following the certification of the 2020 presidential election or the Electoral College vote held on or around January 6, 2021.”
Garland defended his move during a hearing on Capitol Hill earlier this month, arguing that “there are rules under which attorneys general appoint special counsels. Those rules have been in effect under both parties for 30 years, maybe longer.”
“The issue you’re talking about, whether someone can hire a Justice Department employee to serve as a special counsel, has been decided,” Garland argued, adding that other special counsel appointments made by him and other attorneys general have cited a regulation that points to a statute.
Rep. Massie presses Garland on constitutionality of appointment of special counsel Jack Smith
However, Meese argued in his brief filed on several points in the Trump cases that “none of these laws, or any other statutory or constitutional provision, even remotely authorizes the Attorney General’s appointment of a private citizen to receive extraordinary criminal law enforcement powers under the title of special counsel.”
President Trump awards the National Medal of Freedom to former Attorney General Edwin Meese during a ceremony at the White House on October 8, 2019. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Meese’s brief was also mentioned by Justice Clarence Thomas in a question at Supreme Court oral arguments on Trump’s presidential immunity in Smith’s other case regarding interference in the 2020 election, which the high court is expected to rule this month.
On June 21, arguments will be presented in Florida by Gene Schauer on behalf of Meese; Professor Seth Barrett, Josh Blackman on behalf of Tillman; and Matthew Seligman on behalf of constitutional lawyers, former government officials, and “State Democracy Defenders Action.”
Meanwhile, Cannon scheduled an additional hearing from June 24 to 26 and set an early July deadline for disclosure from the special counsel and a July 19 deadline for defendants’ expedited trial reports — the last day of the Republican National Convention.
Trump will be sentenced in Manhattan on July 11 after being found guilty on all counts in the New York v. Trump case by District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Former President Trump will appear at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on May 21, 2024. (JUSTIN LANE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Cannon scheduled a status conference for July 22 and another hearing later that day.
Cannon did not set a new hearing date.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all 37 felony counts connected to Smith’s investigation, including knowingly withholding national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and making false statements.
Trump was also charged with three additional counts in a separate indictment related to the investigation — one count of knowingly withholding national defense information and two counts of obstruction.
Trump argued not guilty,
Cannon’s move last month to indefinitely postpone the trial comes after the judge unsealed a number of documents related to the FBI’s investigation into the former president and the FBI’s 2022 raid on his Mar-a-Lago, Florida estate.
The documents provide detailed information about the personnel involved in the incident. Raid on Mar-a-Lago And its blow-by-blow timeline. One of the documents is an FBI file revealing that the agency’s investigation into Trump’s alleged misuse of classified documents was codenamed “Plasmic Echo.”
Another unsealed FBI memo recounts Garland’s role in the investigation.
In a document dated March 30, 2022, Garland granted his approval to allow the investigation into Trump’s alleged misuse of classified documents to be upgraded to a “full investigation”.
“This email provides approval for a full investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) Attorney General (AG) (Merrick Garland),” a summary of the restricted document says.
Attorney General Merrick Garland (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
In addition, Smith and federal prosecutors acknowledged in a court filing last month that documents seized during the raid at Mar-a-Lago were no longer in their original form. Order and sequence,
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“There are some boxes in which the order of the items is not the same as the order of the corresponding scan,” Smith’s filing said.
Prosecutors had earlier told the court that the documents were “in their possession”. original, intact form It was confiscated.”
Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Jim JordanR-Ohio, is investigating whether evidence was tampered with.
Smith also charged Trump in a separate jurisdiction in Washington, D.C., with election interference and other charges beyond his own investigation of January 6. Trump has pleaded not guilty to those charges as well.
That trial was postponed indefinitely. The Supreme Court is debating presidential immunity and whether Trump has immunity from prosecution in Smith’s case.
The High Court is expected to give its verdict on the matter by the end of next week.
