US: Classified documents case against Donald Trump dismissed; former Prez welcomes ruling
Trump was indicted in June last year by a federal grand jury in Miami. He was accused of taking classified national defence documents from the White House after he left office and resisting the government's attempts to retrieve the materials, as reported by CNN. However, both Trump and his aide, Walt Nauta, pleaded not guilty to the charges.
ANI
Jul 15, 2024 22:05 IST
Washington DC [US], July 15 (ANI): The classified documents case against former President Donald Trump was dismissed by US District Judge Aileen Cannon on Monday, CNN reported.
Cannon said the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith "violated the Constitution."
"Both the Appointments and Appropriations challenges as framed in the Motion raise the following threshold question: is there a statute in the United States Code that authorises the appointment of Special Counsel Smith to conduct this prosecution? After careful study of this seminal issue, the answer is no," Cannon wrote in the ruling.
Cannon also wrote, "In the end, it seems the Executive's growing comfort in appointing 'regulatory' special counsels in the more recent era has followed an ad hoc pattern with little judicial scrutiny."
Trump was indicted in June last year by a federal grand jury in Miami. He was accused of taking classified national defence documents from the White House after he left office, and resisting the government's attempts to retrieve the materials, as reported by CNN. However, both Trump and his aide, Walt Nauta, pleaded not guilty to the charges.
On July 27, 2023, the special counsel, Jack Smith, charged Trump with three new counts, including one additional count of willful retention of national defence information.
Nauta was also charged on two new counts. A third defendant, Carlos de Oliveira, was added to the case and charged with four counts, including being added to the obstruction conspiracy charged in the original indictment.
Reacting to the judgement, Trump said the dismissal of his classified documents case "should be just the first step" and called for his other cases to also be dismissed, CNN reported.
"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 -- The January 6th Hoax in Washington, D.C., the Manhattan D.A.'s Zombie Case, the New York A.G. Scam, Fake Claims about a woman I never met (a decades old photo in a line with her then husband does not count), and the Georgia "Perfect" Phone Call charges," he posted on Truth Social.
Trump again termed all charges against him as "Political Attacks."
"The Democrat Justice Department coordinated ALL of these Political Attacks, which are an Election Interference conspiracy against Joe Biden's Political Opponent, ME. Let us come together to END all Weaponization of our Justice System, and Make America Great Again!" the former president added.
This development comes on the heels of the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Sunday.
Trump was on stage at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania's Butler before gunshots rang out and Secret Service agents stormed the stage.
Following the attack on Trump, the Secret Service agents surrounded the Republican candidate and escorted him off the stage, with blood visible across his face.
He raised his fist towards the crowd as he was escorted away by law enforcement personnel. Donald Trump said that the bullet pierced the upper part of his ear.
One of the rally attendees was killed, while two more were critically injured, CNN reported. The gunman was also killed by US Secret Service agents.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has identified the gunman as Thomas Matthew Crooks. It further said that an investigation is underway into the shooting incident, CNN reported. (ANI)
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