Why Judge Cannon will be removed from Trump case after 'horrific' ruling: legal expert

On Monday, July 15 — the opening day of the 2024 Republican National Convention — the GOP, for the first time in U.S. history, gave its presidential nomination to someone who is facing three criminal indictments: Donald Trump.

Previously, that number had been four. But Judge Aileen Cannon, earlier in the day, dismissed special counsel Jack Smith's Mar-a-Lago documents case against the former president.

Legal experts on MSNBC noted that Smith would appeal her decision but pointed out that the appeal process could take months — or perhaps even years.

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Trump's legal team claimed that the indictment was invalid because U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith without him being confirmed by the U.S. Senate. And Cannon agreed with that reasoning, which attorney Ben Meiselas and other legal experts have been attacking as horribly flawed and at odds with judicial precedent.

On the "Meidas Touch" podcast, Meiselas slammed Cannon's ruling as "horrific" and predicted that the Trump appointee will be thrown off the case.

Meiselas argued, "Special counsels have been used over and over again in Republican and Democratic administrations. There was a special counsel used in the prosecution of Hunter Biden, for example. But Judge Cannon says she's just confining her order to Donald Trump, so special counsels are only unlawful in her mind when it comes to Donald Trump. And while, of course, that's not a good headline, or it's a horrific decision, it will finally allow Jack Smith to appeal to the 11th Circuit.

The attorney added, "He's no doubt going to ask for Judge Canon to be removed from the case."

READ MORE: Watergate lawyer: Nixon 'would have walked' under 'radical SCOTUS ruling'

Peter Carr, a spokesman for Smith, stressed that the federal courts have repeatedly ruled that a U.S. attorney general can appoint a special counsel without a U.S. Senate vote.

Carr told Newsweek, "The dismissal of the case deviates from the uniform conclusion of all previous courts to have considered the issue that the attorney general is statutorily authorized to appoint a special counsel. The Justice Department has authorized the special counsel to appeal the court's order."

READ MORE: How Cannon ruling mirrors Nixon's 'Saturday Night Massacre': ex-federal prosecutor