Judge dismisses case against Donald Trump over Mar-a-Lago classified papers

The Fiserv Forum in downtown Milwaukee began welcoming delegates from across the United States on Monday to crown Donald Trump as the Republican Party’s nominee for president. The colorful balloons are already on the roof waiting for their moment. Before the convention begins, however, Trump has received a last-minute gift. The judge presiding over the case of the Mar-a-Lago classified documents has annulled the indictment of the former president, dismissed the case and closed it due to an alleged formal defect in the appointment of the prosecutor.

Trump is thus freed — at least temporarily — from a case in which he was accused of dozens of federal crimes of withholding secrets and obstruction of justice for removing classified papers during his departure from the White House. Most were recovered during an FBI search at Mar-a-Lago, the real estate magnate’s mansion in Palm Beach (Florida).

After the Supreme Court’s ruling on his immunity, which downgraded the Washington and Georgia cases over electoral interference and which has also left the New York conviction in the Stormy Daniels case up in the air, this represents another triumph for Trump. The former president’s judicial horizon is gradually clearing while strengthening his chances of returning to the White House after the November 5 presidential election.

The decision comes just two days after Trump survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania and on the eve of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee (Wisconsin), where he will formally be anointed the party’s candidate for president and will announce who will accompany him on the ballot as his running mate.

Trump suffered only a minor injury in the attack and the already iconic image taken seconds after gunfire rang out — calling for the fight, his fist raised under the American flag — has reinforced the image of a persecuted martyr and rebel that he has cultivated among the Republican base. “A lot of people say it’s the most iconic photo they’ve ever seen. They’re right and I didn’t die. Usually you have to die to have an iconic picture,” he said Sunday in an interview with The New York Post.

At the same time, the former president has decided to moderate his discourse and call for unity, in an intelligent maneuver to broaden his electoral base. After the triumph of the Atlanta debate against Biden, with the perverse dynamic in which the Democratic Party has installed itself — questioning its candidate, but without a clear alternative — through his reaction to the attack and favorable judicial decisions Trump’s path to victory in the election seems expeditious.

“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,” Trump wrote on his social network, Truth Social. The former president is calling for all cases against him to be shelved. “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!” Trump’s call for unity is, obviously, a call to unite around him.

The dismissal of the case

Federal Judge Aileen M. Cannon, Trump’s own appointee, shelved the Mar-a-Lago case. In a stunning 93-page ruling, she concluded that the appointment of the special counsel, Jack Smith, violated the Constitution as he had neither been nominated by the president nor confirmed by the Senate.

“The framers of the Constitution gave Congress a fundamental role in the appointment of principal and inferior officers. That role cannot be usurped by the Executive Branch or blurred elsewhere, whether in this case or elsewhere, whether in times of greater national need or not,” the ruling states. The decision breaks with all previous precedents on the matter, which have upheld the validity of special prosecutor appointments by the Justice Department without the need to go through the Senate.

The judge’s ruling can be appealed, and the prosecutor will presumably do so. The higher courts have rejected previous decisions by Judge Cannon, who has almost always ruled in favor of the former president. However, Cannon’s ruling will, at the very least, delay the case. The prosecution had vigorously contested the thesis that the appointment was flawed during hearings before the judge last month. Moreover, it argued that even if the judge ruled in favor of Trump’s lawyers, the proper response would not be to dismiss the entire case.

The Mar-a-Lago classified papers case erupted in spectacular fashion with the search of Trump’s Florida estate by FBI agents on August 8, 2022. In June of the following year, he was formally indicted with federal crimes. The former president was accused of handling hundreds of secret or classified documents that he took without permission to his private residence - which is also a hotel and a social club - when he left the White House in January 2021. Those papers, like those of any U.S. president when he leaves office, belong by law to the National Archives. He is also accused of refusing to return them when the authorities repeatedly asked him to do so, obstruction that led to the above-mentioned search.

The judge had initially set a tentative date for the start of the trial last May, but then delayed it indefinitely. Now, with the new resolution, the case is closed, Trump’s indictment is annulled, and all hearings are cancelled, pending a possible appeal.

Meanwhile, the case drags on and Trump moves toward the White House. If he regains the presidency, he may be able to have the indictment dismissed, even if the higher courts were to determine that the judge’s decision to dismiss the case was not in accordance with the law.

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