Photo: Alamy
President Donald Trump’s attorneys requested on Thursday that charges be dropped against him concerning Jan. 6, 2021, claiming that special counsel Jack Smith was not constitutionally appointed.
The motion was submitted to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan and was based on a Florida ruling that dropped his classified documents case on the same basis.
“The proposed motion establishes that this unjust case was dead on arrival — unconstitutional even before its inception,” Trump’s attorneys wrote.
“Everything that Smith did since Attorney General Garland’s appointment, as President Trump continued his leading campaign against President Biden and then Vice President Harris, was unlawful and unconstitutional,” they added.
Trump currently faces four charges in the Washington, D.C., case related to his actions on Jan. 6. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Smith must respond to the latest request by Oct. 31.
The latest effort by Trump’s legal team pushes back on Smith’s involvement in the case, arguing that he was not confirmed by the Senate but was instead appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Trump’s lawyer argued that Smith was appointed as a private citizen and should not be authorized to make the current legal case against the 45th president.
As RSBN reported in July, Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed Smith’s classified documents case against Trump.
Cannon noted Smith’s unlawful appointment in the dismissal of the case.
“The Superseding Indictment is DISMISSED because Special Counsel Smith’s appointment violates the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution,” the U.S. district judge wrote.
The document also highlighted the two key challenges that led to the case’s dismissal.
“Upon careful study of the foundational challenges raised in the Motion, the Court is convinced that Special Counsel Smith’s prosecution of this action breaches two structural cornerstones of our constitutional scheme—the role of Congress in the appointment of constitutional officers, and the role of Congress in authorizing expenditures by law,” it stated.
Trump previously pleaded not guilty to 37 felony counts in the probe related to classified documents allegedly found in his Mar-a-Lago home during an FBI raid.
He gave a brief statement following the announcement, stating he was “thrilled” over the ruling.
“I am thrilled that a judge had the courage and wisdom to do this. This has big, big implications not just for this case but for other cases,” Trump told Fox News just after the ruling.
