In the affair surrounding Donald Trump’s taking of secret government documents, the judge in charge has dropped the criminal proceedings. It is another legal victory for the former US president.
Donald Trump can celebrate another legal success: In the affair surrounding the hoarding of classified documents, the judge in charge, Aileen Cannon, has dropped the criminal proceedings against former US President Donald Trump. Cannon announced this in Miami, Florida. The judge justified her move with doubts about the legal appointment of the special investigator responsible for the case, Jack Smith. He can appeal the decision.
Trump was indicted at the federal level in the document scandal last year. In this case, he is accused of illegally retaining highly sensitive information from his time as president (2017 to 2021).
House search at Donald Trump’s two years ago
In August 2022, the FBI searched Trump’s villa in Florida and seized several sets of documents classified as top secret. Trump is also accused of conspiring to obstruct the investigation: he is said to have tried to use employees to make material from surveillance cameras disappear and to have boxes of documents removed.
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Trump pleaded not guilty when the charges were presented in Miami last year. His lawyers tried to stop the proceedings with various motions.
Judge Cannon, who is responsible for the document proceedings, was once appointed by Trump. In recent months, critics have accused her of dragging out the proceedings and processing applications in slow motion.
Supreme Court ruling on immunity likely to play a role
A few weeks ago, Trump was able to win another case before the Supreme Court. The US Supreme Court ruled that Trump enjoys extensive protection from prosecution for actions in his presidency. This decision does not have anything to do directly with the discontinuance of the proceedings in Miami – but it may have an indirect connection.
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In a statement on the immunity ruling, Judge Clarence Thomas wrote that special counsel Smith was not lawfully appointed and therefore had no authority to prosecute Trump. Thomas’s text in the ruling did not indicate any immediate legal consequences.
In the indictment against Trump in Florida, however, Trump’s team had already put forward exactly this argument, which has been rejected by many experts. The statement by Supreme Court Justice Thomas is therefore considered highly unusual and was seen by many as a sign to Florida.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
