Judge dismisses classified documents case against Donald Trump

CNN —

A federal judge on Monday dismissed the classified documents case against Donald Trump, a shock ruling that clears away one of the major legal challenges facing the former president.

In a 93-page ruling, District Judge Aileen Cannon said the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith violated the Constitution. She did not rule on whether Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents was proper or not.

“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,” Cannon wrote.

The ruling by Cannon, a judge Trump appointed in 2020, comes on the first day of the Republican National Convention and as the nation reels from the failed attempt on Trump’s life over the weekend. Even though a trial before the presidential election was considered highly unlikely, many legal experts had viewed the classified documents case as the strongest one of the four cases that were pending against the former president.

Trump on Truth Social said the dismissal “should be just the first step” as he called for the other cases facing him also to be dismissed, claiming that the charges were “political attacks.”

The White House referred requests for comment to the Justice Department. Smith’s office has not responded to a call for comment.

DETROIT, MICHIGAN - JUNE 15: Former President Donald Trump gives the keynote address at Turning Point Action's "The People's Convention" on June 15, 2024 in Detroit, Michigan. Trump, who turned 78 years old yesterday on his birthday, will be debating President Joe Biden, age 81, next week on June 27 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

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