A federal judge has dismissed the case against former President Donald Trump for allegedly hoarding classified documents, arguing the prosecutor who brought the case was illegally appointed by the Justice Department.
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00:00Trump had faced dozens of felony counts in federal court in Florida accusing him of
00:05illegally hoarding classified and top secret documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach.
00:12There were records that were recovered all over the property in the bathroom,
00:16for instance, and really in all sorts of places that the federal government said
00:20were not supposed to be proper repositories for really sensitive records.
00:24Trump has pleaded not guilty. He's maintained his innocence. And it is one of four criminal
00:29cases that Trump has faced. This was the year that began with a lot of sense that there might
00:34be significant legal consequences for the former president, but that's not really how it's turned
00:38out. He's been convicted in just one of the four cases, a New York hush money prosecution,
00:44but the sentencing there has been delayed by virtue of a Supreme Court opinion that
00:48conferred broad immunity on former presidents. Another case in Atlanta charging with plotting
00:54to subvert the 2020 election has really been on hold amid a review into the conduct of the
01:00prosecutor. And then the future of the other federal case brought by Jack Smith is also in doubt
01:07in lieu of a Supreme Court opinion. It's going to really require a lot of work at the trial
01:11court level and is almost certainly going to prevent a trial from taking place before the
01:15November presidential election. Trump is already out with a statement saying that this is the
01:21first step in what should happen in all four of his cases. He says all four are hoaxes and should
01:26be dismissed. But I do think it's worth noting that the dismissal here is not a reflection of
01:31the judge's assessment of Trump's guilt or innocence. This is a very legal and technical,
01:38even arcane argument from the defense team that said that the special counsel who brought the
01:43case, Jack Smith, that his appointment was illegal because he was selected by the just department,
01:48but didn't go through Senate confirmation. The just department, of course, says that process
01:53is not necessary and it's never been required under their own regulations and other judges
01:58have never required it. This is, of course, an order that can be appealed. And so there's every
02:03reason to expect the special counsel, Jack Smith, will do that really immediately, will file a notice
02:09to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to say that they are challenging this order and that they want
02:15the case to be reinstated. It's worth noting that that's actually already happened in the
02:21classified documents investigation before, where Judge Cannon had appointed an independent arbiter
02:27to review the classified documents that were taken from Mar-a-Lago, and then a federal appeals court
02:33actually then rejected that order, rejected that appointment, and benefited the just,
02:42enrolling the benefit of the just department. So there's every reason to think that the just
02:46department is, of course, going to upheal this order.