Judge dismisses case against Trump over taking confidential documents

Florida Judge Ellen Cannon on Monday dismissed a case that accused former President and Republican candidate Donald Trump of obtaining confidential documents from the White House.

The decision, which came out two days after the attack against Trump in Pennsylvania, represents a legal victory for the former president. It is the first time that one of the four criminal cases against Trump has been completely dismissed.

Cannon, who was appointed during Trump’s tenure, argued in the ruling that the special prosecutor in charge of the investigation, Jack Smith, was not legally appointed and that his appointment “violates the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution.”

The judge issued the ruling following a hearing in which the former president’s legal team specifically asked him to dismiss the allegations made by Smith. After the Supreme Court granted him partial immunityStating that presidents of the United States cannot be prosecuted upon leaving office for actions taken within the course of their official duties.

Trump faces dozens of felony charges accusing him of illegally storing classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate and obstructing the FBI’s efforts to recover them.

The documents were recovered in an FBI raid in August 2022 after Trump repeatedly refused authorities’ requests to return the stolen documents.

The decision comes on the first day of the Republican Party’s national convention, which will crown Trump as its nominee, two days after the former president survived an attack at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.