Constitutional law expert Jonathan Turley joined "America's Newsroom" to explain the issues with the classified documents case against Trump that has now been dismissed.
Constitutional law expert Jonathan Turley joined "America's Newsroom" Monday after a judge in Florida dismissed the case against former President Trump's handling of classified documents.
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JONATHAN TURLEY: This is a seismic decision because the immunity decision that was issued by the Supreme Court was the second of a 1-2 punch for Jack Smith. Previously, the court had reversed an obstruction charge that impacted Trump as well. And so those two cases here ripped the wings off his case. So we were all looking to see how Jack Smith would handle it in D.C. He had a very motivated and favorable judge, Judge Chutkan. And she has really been an ideal choice for Jack Smith. So the assumption was that Judge Chutkan would do her level best to keep that case going even after these hits. Few people expected the Florida case to be the one that disassembled first. Well, what Judge Cannon is saying here is essentially, look, there's this weird anomaly in the Constitution, we have a process of which U.S. attorneys are nominated, and they are then confirmed by the Senate. And yet the attorney general can just go on to any street in D.C. and pick any person and make them a special counsel with greater authority than the U.S. attorney. And that's what she's trying to get at here, saying, where is the footprint for this in the Constitution? Where is the authority to create Jack Smith within the first three articles of the Constitution? So it's a huge win for Trump. Other courts have really dismissed this claim with very little briefing. And so this will create a conflict. There are good arguments on both sides here. But, you couldn't have more favorable news for Donald Trump because I've said it from the beginning, the Florida case was by far the greatest threat to Donald Trump. The New York case, the Manhattan case, in my view, has layers of reversible error. It's going to be in the courts for a while I think. Judge Merchan did a particularly poor job in that case, and I don't even see the viable crime in that case. But putting that aside, Florida was the greatest challenge.
Trump had faced charges stemming from special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into his possession of classified materials at Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence. He pleaded not guilty to all 37 felony counts from Smith’s probe, including willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements.
"Former President Trump’s Motion to Dismiss Indictment Based on the Unlawful Appointment and Funding of Special Counsel Jack Smith is GRANTED in accordance with this Order," U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon wrote in a Monday ruling. "The Superseding Indictment is DISMISSED because Special Counsel Smith’s appointment violates the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution."
Fox News' Greg Norman contributed to this report
