AG Garland knocks Cannon’s classified docs ruling: 'Do I look like someone who’d make that mistake?'

The number of active criminal indictments against former President Donald Trump went from four to three when Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, dismissed special counsel Jack Smith's Mar-a-Lago documents case.

Trump's legal team argued that U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland had no business appointing Smith as a special prosecutor without him being confirmed in a U.S. Senate vote, and Cannon agreed. But many legal scholars have attacked Cannon's ruling as being at odds with judicial precedent, and Smith's office is appealing her decision.

During a late July interview with NBC News' Ken Dilanian, Garland laid out some reasons why he considers Cannon's reasoning problematic.

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Garland told Dilanian, "For more than 20 years, I was a federal judge. Do I look like someone who would make that basic mistake about the law? I don't think so."

The word "institutionalist" has often been used to describe Garland, who emphasized that the federal courts have repeatedly found that someone in his position has every right to appoint a special counsel.

"Our position is that it's constitutional and valid," Garland told Dilanian. "That's why we appealed. I will say that this is the same process of appointing special counsel as was followed in the previous administration in special counsel (John) Durham and special counsel (Robert) Mueller."

Garland continued, "In multiple special counsels over the decades, going back to Watergate and the special prosecutor in that case — until now, every single court, including the Supreme Court, that has considered the legality of a special counsel appointment, has upheld it."

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