The prosecution wants to bring back the case against Trump for the classified documents

2024-08-27 09:25:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

The prosecution wants to bring back the case against Trump for the classified

Donald Trump

Special prosecutor Jack Smith asked a federal appeals court on Monday to reinstate the criminal case accusing former President Donald Trump of possessing classified documents after a lower court threw out the lawsuit in July.

In the court filing, prosecutor Smith and his team are asking the Atlanta-based United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit to reverse the July 15 ruling by Judge Aileen Cannon. where she concluded that prosecutor Smith had been illegally appointed and lacked legal authority to prosecute.

"Congress has given the Attorney General, like the heads of many executive departments, broad authority to structure the agency he leads to carry out the responsibilities imposed on him by law," the prosecution's request reads.

"The district court's contrary view runs counter to an otherwise unbroken line of decisions, including by the Supreme Court, that the Attorney General has such authority and is contrary to broad and early appointment practices in the Department of Justice. Justice and throughout the government".

The Department of Justice had previously stated that it planned to appeal the judge's decision.

In Monday's filing, Smith's office also asked the appeals court to set a date for oral arguments.

Judge Cannon, appointed to the post by former President Trump, had said that Attorney General Merrick Garland's decision to appoint special prosecutor Smith in 2022 violated the United States Constitution. It also ruled that his office's budget, which is funded by an undesignated fund, was illegal.

Former President Trump's lawyers had previously challenged the legal authority to appoint Smith, arguing that Smith's office was not created by Congress and he had not been confirmed by the Senate as a special prosecutor.

Former President Trump's campaign team said Monday that the court should reject Smith's request and that other cases facing the former president should be dismissed.

Judge Cannon's decision has faced fierce criticism, with many jurists saying it contradicts previous court decisions that uphold the legality of rules the Justice Department has relied on for years to appoint special prosecutors.

"The Attorney General validly appointed the Special Prosecutor, who is also properly funded," Smith's office wrote, adding that Judge Cannon had "departed from binding Supreme Court precedent" and that she had also "misconstrued the statutes that authorized the appointment of the Special Prosecutor".

Judge Cannon's decision to dismiss the case marked a legal victory for former President Trump and came not long after the Supreme Court ruled that he had broad immunity from prosecution for official actions taken while in office.

This Supreme Court ruling has led to major delays in Attorney Smith's second criminal case against former President Trump, in which the former president is facing charges for his efforts to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. .

Prosecutor Smith faces a deadline of Friday to present to the court how he wants to proceed in light of the Supreme Court's decision.

Former President Trump, who is running against Vice President Kamala Harris, pleaded guilty in May to charges brought by New York state that included paying a pornographic actress to remain silent to avoid a scandal. sexual before the 2016 elections.

The sentencing was postponed after the Supreme Court's decision on presidential immunity.

In the classified documents case, former President Trump was indicted on charges that he knowingly kept national security documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after leaving office in 2021 and that he obstructed the government's efforts to received these materials. /VOA