A federal judge has dismissed the criminal case against Donald Trump accusing him of mishandling classified information, finding the appointment of special prosecutor Jack Smith unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s order on Monday ends one of four criminal cases against Trump as he ramps up his campaign for a new term in the White House. The Justice Department can appeal the decision.
The dismissal occurs while Trump prepares to accept presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, following an attack over the weekend in which the former president was injured. The FBI is investigating.
Spokespeople for the special counsel’s office, the Trump campaign and President Joe Biden’s campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The White House declined to comment and referred questions to the Justice Department.
Cannon, who was appointed to the federal bench in South Florida by Trump in 2020, found that Congress failed to provide the attorney general with clear authority to appoint or fund the special counsel.
“The Court is convinced that Special Counsel Smith’s prosecution of this action violates two structural pillars of our constitutional scheme: Congress’s role in appointing constitutional officers and Congress’s role in authorizing spending by statute,” Cannon wrote.
The dismissal of the case comes after a series of good news for the former president on the legal front.
Trump was supposed to have been in New York last week for his sentencing in the bribery case, for which he was convicted in May. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in July granted him and all presidents partial immunity, which his team used to successfully postpone sentencing, at least until September.
Trump’s legal troubles have been a major source of his small fundraising boost, allowing him to edge out Biden in the money race.
Smith is separately pursuing another criminal case against Trump in federal court in Washington, accusing him of illegally conspiring to obstruct the results of the 2020 presidential election. Cannon’s order is not binding on the judge overseeing that case and has been on hold while the two sides fight over Trump’s immunity. There are two other cases pending against him in New York and Georgia.
