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Case against Trump for secret documents / Defense challenges appointment of Special Prosecutor

2024-06-22 08:59:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Case against Trump for secret documents / Defense challenges appointment of

Mr. Donald Trump's lawyers, in the case brought against him for keeping secret documents, argued on Friday that the appointment of the Special Prosecutor was made illegally and that the case should be dismissed.

The challenge to the legality of the appointment of Special Prosecutor Jack Smith marked the start of a three-day hearing that will continue next week and is expected to bring further delays to the criminal case that was scheduled to go to trial last month.

Questions raised by the defense about Mr. Smith's selection by the Justice Department are one of many challenges to the prosecution filed by defense lawyers since Mr. Trump was accused of keeping secret documents.

The judge in the case, Aileen Cannon, listened to arguments from both sides for hours. Emil Bove, Mr Trump's lawyer, said the Justice Department was creating a "shadow government" by appointing a special prosecutor to prosecute certain cases.

The prosecution said there was nothing unusual in the selection of Mr Smith. Prosecutor James Pearce, a member of the prosecution team, said: "We are in compliance and have respected all departmental policies."

Judge Cannon has yet to rule on the defense's request. Showing the seriousness of the motion, the judge asked prosecutor Pearce what oversight role the United States Attorney General, Merrick Garland, who appointed Mr. Smith, had in bringing the indictment.

Prosecutor Pearce said he was unable to answer the question, but noted: "I don't want to make it look like I'm hiding something."

As prosecutors seek to continue the process against Mr. Trump for keeping secret documents, the motion filed Friday by the defense did not relate to the charges against the former president.

Friday's motion concerned the rules governing the appointment of special prosecutors by the Justice Department, such as in Mr. Smith's case. The presentation of arguments by the defense side has led to the indefinite postponement of the start of the trial against Mr. Trump. Prosecutors have said that the arguments are not serious.

On Friday, the defense argued that Mr. Smith was appointed in November 2022 illegally by the United States attorney general because it was not first approved by Congress and that the special prosecutor's office was not created by Congress.

Mr. Smith's team has said that Attorney General Garland was fully authorized to make the appointment as head of the Justice Department and to delegate prosecutorial decisions to him. They noted that a similar argument failed in a challenge to the appointment of Mr. Robert Mueller, who was appointed by the Justice Department as Special Counsel during President Trump's administration to investigate possible ties between Russia and the Trump campaign last year. 2016 election.

Federal Judge Aileen Cannon, a 2020 Trump appointee, said in early May that the trial would not begin on May 20, but did not set a new start date.

Mr Trump, who is running for a second presidential term, had previously been scheduled to go on trial on May 20 on charges of possession of secret documents brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith, but the prosecution and defense had agreed that the trial would have to be postponed.

Former President Trump has pleaded not guilty to 40 federal charges of illegally keeping classified national security documents at his Mar-a-Lago, Florida home after leaving the White House in 2021 and for obstructing the US government's efforts to withdraw them./ VOA