Special counsel Jack Smith’s team withdrew Monday from the Justice Department’s appeal of the classified documents case brought against President-elect Donald Trump’s co-defendants.
Last month, Smith formally dropped charges against Trump in both the classified documents case, brought in Florida, and the 2020 election interference case, filed in Washington, D.C.
Smith cited the long-standing Justice Department policy that sitting presidents cannot be criminally prosecuted.
However, Smith’s team had filed an appeal at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta that is still active regarding Trump aide Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago employee Carlos De Oliveira in the documents case.
Both Nauta and De Oliveira had pleaded not guilty to conspiring “to obstruct justice by attempting to delete Mar-a-Lago surveillance footage that prosecutors say showed employees moving boxes around, in order ‘to conceal information from the FBI and grand jury,’ according to the indictment,” ABC News reported.
Federal district court Judge Aileen Cannon ruled in July that the DOJ’s appointment of Smith as special counsel was unconstitutional, concluding the move needed congressional approval.
The DOJ then appealed her decision to the 11th Circuit in August.
Smith’s team has now referred the case to the DOJ’s Southern District of Florida office, according to ABC News.
It seems likely that when Trump becomes president, the new administration will move quickly to drop the charges against Nauta and De Oliveira.
Is this the last we’ll hear of Jack Smith?
Yes: 33% (1 Votes)
No: 67% (2 Votes)
Trump has repeatedly characterized the cases brought against him and his associates by President Joe Biden’s DOJ as politically motivated and designed to hurt his election chances.
In contrast to the treatment of the Republican nominee for president, the DOJ brought no charges against President Joe Biden for retaining classified documents at his private residence and office from his time as a vice president and senator.
Special Counsel Hur on Capitol Hill:
“My team and I conducted a thorough, independent investigation. We identified evidence that the president willfully retained classified materials after the end of his vice presidency when he was a private citizen.” pic.twitter.com/96kEJJGVMY
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 12, 2024
Special Counsel Robert Hur testified before Congress in March that though Biden had committed a criminal offense, no charges would be filed because a jury would likely view him as an “elderly man with a poor memory.”
In November, Trump reacted to Smith’s decision to dismiss the charges against him following his election victory.
🚨 Special Counsel Jack Smith has asked the 11th Circuit to dismiss his appeal of Judge Cannon’s order dismissing the Florida documents case.
This motion applies as to defendant Trump only, NOT his two co-defendants. pic.twitter.com/ABrEoFm738
— DW Fan (@daily_wire_fan) November 25, 2024
“These cases, like all of the other cases I have been forced to go through, are empty and lawless, and should never have been brought,” Trump wrote in a post on social media platform X.
These cases, like all of the other cases I have been forced to go through, are empty and lawless, and should never have been brought. Over $100 Million Dollars of Taxpayer Dollars has been wasted in the Democrat Party’s fight against their Political Opponent, ME. Nothing like…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 25, 2024
“Over $100 Million Dollars of Taxpayer Dollars has been wasted in the Democrat Party’s fight against their Political Opponent, ME. Nothing like this has ever happened in our Country before.”
Democratic Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina told CNN last month that Smith should be on a list of people to whom Biden issues a preemptive pardon before leaving office, due to the special counsel’s prosecution of Trump.
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