Jack Smith shreds Trump claim he was improperly appointed to Mar-a-Lago docs case

24 June 2024

During a Friday, June 21 hearing in her South Florida courtroom, Judge Aileen Cannon listened to arguments claiming that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Attorney General Merrick Garland had no business appointing Jack Smith as a special counsel without approval from the U.S. Senate.

That lack of Senate approval, Donald Trump's legal team claims, invalidates Smith's Mar-a-Lago documents case.

But on Sunday, June 23, according to Newsweek, a court filing from Smith's office pushed back against that claim — maintaining that Garland had every right to appoint him special counsel and didn't need permission from the U.S. Senate.

Newsweek's Ewan Palmer explains, "The argument that Smith was unlawfully appointed by Garland as special counsel has been put forward by Trump's lawyers as part of a bid to have the classified documents case thrown out. Trump's team has previously argued that former Republican Attorney General William Barr only appointed special counsels who had been confirmed by the Senate."

Palmer adds, "In response, Smith has now cited three examples of Barr appointing special counsels who were not approved by the Senate during his first term in the 1990s."

Barr served as U.S. attorney general under two GOP presidents: George H.W. Bush and Trump.

In the filing on June 23, Smith wrote, "Those appointments included; Nicolas Bua (appointed in November 1991 to investigate the Inslaw matter); Malcolm Wilkey (appointed in March 1992 to investigate the House banking matter) [and] Frederick Lacey (appointed in October 1992 to investigate the 'Iraqgate' matter)."

"The filing from Smith arrived after Judge Aileen Cannon, who is overseeing the classified documents case, held a hearing about the arguments and the legality of the special counsel's appointment on Friday," Palmer notes. "During the hearing, Smith's team noted a similar challenge — regarding the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate alleged collusion between Trump's campaign and Russia ahead of the 2016 election — had failed."

Palmer adds, "Arguments on whether Smith was illegally appointed as special counsel in the classified documents (case) will continue in Florida on Monday (June 24)."

Read Newsweek's full report at this link.

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