Donald Trump classified documents case dismissed, with judge ruling prosecutor Jack Smith was unlawfully appointed

A US judge has dismissed the criminal case against Donald Trump that accused him of illegally retaining classified documents after leaving the White House. 

Mr Trump was indicted in June last year, and pleaded not guilty to federal criminal charges that he kept national security documents when he left office and lied to officials who sought to recover them.    

The trial had been scheduled to begin in May, but it was indefinitely postponed by Florida-based US District Judge Aileen Cannon.

The US Justice Department announced it will appeal against the ruling, a spokesperson for Special Counsel Jack Smith said. 

Today Judge Cannon, who was appointed to the bench by Mr Trump in 2020, dismissed the case on the grounds that the prosecution's Special Counsel Jack Smith did not have authority to bring the case. 

"The superseding indictment is dismissed because Special Counsel Smith's appointment violates the appointments clause of the United States constitution," she wrote in her ruling.

It is a major legal victory for Mr Trump as he prepares to be officially endorsed as presidential candidate at the Republican National Convention this week. 

It follows the US Supreme Court's ruling in July that as a former president, he is broadly immune from prosecution for many of his actions in office.

The classified documents case is one of four pending criminal cases against the former president, and the first indictment to be dismissed. 

In May this year, he was found guilty of falsifying business records to conceal payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election campaign, making him the first American president to be convicted of a crime in history. 

He is also awaiting trial in two cases of alleged election interference during the 2020 election and leading up to the January 6 insurrection — a federal case and a separate case in the state of Georgia. 

Mr Trump has sought to characterise all of the criminal cases against him as "witch hunts", and has welcomed the dismissal of the classified documents trial. 

In a post on Truth Social, he said it should be "just the first step", followed quickly by the dismissals of the remaining cases against him.

What was the classified documents case about?

Mr Trump was indicted on charges that he knowingly held onto documents including sensitive national security information at his Mar-a-Lago estate after leaving the White House, and that he obstructed government efforts to retrieve the material.

Under the Presidential Records Act, presidential records are considered federal property and must be turned over to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) at the end of a president's term.

According to the indictment handed down in June last year, Mr Trump sent boxes that contained personal letters, notes, photographs and "hundreds of classified documents" from the White House to his property in Florida after leaving the White House in 2021.  

The classified documents included information on national defence and weapons capabilities, nuclear programs, and potential vulnerabilities of the US and its allies.

At Mar-a-Lago, the boxes were stored in various locations including a ballroom, a bathroom and shower, and office space and a storage room. 

After months of back-and-forth with Mr Trump's office, the NARA referred the matter of missing documents to the Department of Justice. The FBI opened a criminal investigation in March 2022 and a federal grand jury began an investigation a month later. Investigators would eventually seize 13,000 documents from Mar-a-Lago in a series of searches.

In addition to unlawfully retaining documents, Mr Trump was accused of conspiring with a personal aide, Walt Nauta, to obstruct the Department of Justice investigation. 

Mr Nauta and another staffer, Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Olivera, were also charged with conspiring to obstruct justice. 

Why was this case dismissed? 

Mr Trump's lawyers had challenged the legal authority for Special Counsel Jack Smith to be appointed as a prosecutor leading investigations into the former president. 

Mr Smith was sworn in as a special prosecutor by Attorney-General Merrick Garland in November 2022. 

Mr Trump's legal team argued the appointment violated the US constitution because his office was not created by Congress and he was not confirmed by the Senate.

Lawyers in Mr Smith's office disputed those claims, arguing there was a well-settled practice of using special counsels to manage politically sensitive investigations.

But Judge Cannon's decision today dismissed that argument, ruling that the attorney-general did not have the authority "to appoint a federal officer with the kind of prosecutorial power wielded by Special Counsel Smith".

She also made several references to an opinion of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas within the court's July ruling that former presidents have broad immunity from criminal prosecution. In his concurrence, Justice Thomas questioned whether Mr Smith had been legally appointed as special counsel and called on lower court judges to consider. 

In a statement, Democrat Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer described Judge Cannon's ruling as "breathtakingly misguided", adding that it "flies in the face of long-accepted practice and repetitive judicial precedence". 

"It is wrong on the law and must be appealed immediately. This is further evidence that Judge Cannon cannot handle this case impartially and must be reassigned," he said.

Prosecutors are likely to appeal Judge Cannon's ruling. Courts in other cases have repeatedly upheld the ability of the US Justice Department to appoint special counsels to handle certain politically sensitive investigations.

But the dismissal casts serious doubt on the future of the case.

Mr Smith is also prosecuting Mr Trump in the federal case over alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election, however the former president's legal team has not made a similar challenge to the special counsel in that case.

Mr Trump is also due to be sentenced in September over the New York hush money case.

ABC/wires