Judge Dismisses Jack Smith's Case Against Trump

The Republican National Convention is underway in Milwaukee, and our nation is still reeling from this weekend’s horrific assassination attempt on President Donald Trump, which took one innocent life and left two others in critical condition. We continue to offer up prayers for our country and the families of the victims.

President Trump remains in the news as Judge Aileen Cannon just dismissed his classified documents case, citing that the appointment of Special Counsel Jack Smith was unconstitutional. She also said Smith’s case violated the Constitution’s Appropriations Clause. In other words, the prosecution against Trump was not properly funded.

If you remember, this case has been rocky from the start. Several irregularities took place regarding the government’s retrieval of the documents from Mar-a-Lago. For instance, the FBI ordered the CCTV servers turned off while its agents raided Trump’s home. Also, Smith admitted that his legal team had mishandled the very documents that they accused President Trump of mishandling, spurring an investigation to be launched by House Judiciary Committee Rep. Jim Jordan (OH-4). Within that investigation came the revelation that Smith’s legal team also possibly committed witness tampering.

Then oral arguments took place regarding the case, during which President Trump’s legal team raised the issue about Smith’s unlawful appointment. A Special Counsel is deemed a principal officer of the United States, meaning they must be nominated first by the President and confirmed by the Senate. However, Smith was neither nominated by President Biden nor confirmed by the Senate.

As you know, my dad, ACLJ Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow, defended President Trump during his impeachment and raised similar questions about the unlawful appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. He joined the show today to discuss Judge Cannon’s decision:

This was the same argument that we raised six years ago when . . . we said that the appointment of Bob Mueller was unconstitutional. That, exactly as Judge Cannon said, it violated the Appointment Clause. . . . And, of course, the U.S. attorney to be appointed has to be confirmed by the Senate. And the money for that U.S. attorney has to be approved by Congress. None of that happens with the Special Counsel. So . . . we said that was an unconstitutional appointment, and we were ready to litigate it.

So yet another one of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s cases against President Trump has been rightfully dismissed. The case will likely be appealed to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, meaning it probably won’t be fully settled until after the 2024 presidential election. We’ll see what happens next.

As I alluded to earlier, the RNC has just kicked off, and there’s a noticeably different tone here now, obviously as a result of the assassination attempt on President Trump’s life. Americans might disagree on politics, but we must never resort to violence. However, we shouldn’t be shocked at what happens when we constantly hear reprehensible language from the Left and the media, such as comparing Trump to Hitler.

I truly hope the dangerous, irresponsible rhetoric changes within the media and congressional leadership. We must try to use this moment to reconcile the political divide in our nation.

And so far, there have been some encouraging signs coming from the mainstream media. The Daily Show announced that it won’t broadcast from the RNC out of concerns that it could be deemed inappropriate. Also, Morning Joe didn’t run on MSNBC this morning because of worries that a panelist might say something out of line. When was the last time MSNBC was concerned about what a guest said about President Trump?

Trump will still speak as planned at the convention, and his acceptance speech as the Republican nominee will now center on unity. In addition, J.D. Vance has been selected as President Trump’s vice presidential running mate.

Finally, because of what happened to President Trump over the weekend, the ACLJ is getting involved. We are preparing to file a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request to the Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security that oversees it.

Were resources diverted away from President Trump’s detail? Why wasn’t that building secured? Were warnings of a gunman on the roof not responded to properly? How could this happen, and why isn’t the head of the Secret Service providing public answers? We are going to get answers – stay tuned.

Today’s Sekulow broadcast included a full analysis of President Trump’s classified documents case being rightfully dismissed. We also discussed the sobering events of the attempt on President Trump’s life, how it will affect the RNC, and how the ACLJ is taking legal action.

Watch the full broadcast below: