Last year, Donald Trump was arrested and arraigned on a 38-count federal indictment in Florida, all stemming from his theft of thousands of highly classified documents as he exited the White House. Trump was stacking up nuclear secrets in Mar-a-Lago bathrooms and bringing MAL guests down to his storage room so he could show them all of the CIA and NSA files. When the Biden administration discovered that Trump had stolen all of these documents, Pres. Biden and AG Garland appointed a special counsel to investigate and prosecute the case. Jack Smith secured the indictment thirteen months ago. Unfortunately, the case was assigned to a Trump-appointee judge and moron named Aileen M. Cannon. Judge Cannon has been slow-walking the case and doing everything she can to hurt Smith’s prosecution of Trump. Now Judge Cannon has done the unthinkable… she’s dismissed the entire case.
A federal judge dismissed in its entirety the classified documents case against former President Donald J. Trump on Monday, ruling that the appointment of the special counsel, Jack Smith, had violated the Constitution.
In a stunning ruling, the judge, Aileen M. Cannon, found that because Mr. Smith had not been named to the post of special counsel by the president or confirmed by the Senate, his appointment was in violation of the appointments clause of the Constitution.
The ruling by Judge Cannon, who was put on the bench by Mr. Trump, flew in the face of previous court decisions reaching back to the Watergate era that upheld the legality of the ways in which independent prosecutors have been named. And in a single swoop, it removed a major legal threat against Mr. Trump on the first day of the Republican National Convention, where he is set to formally become the party’s nominee for president.
Mr. Smith’s team will almost certainly appeal the ruling by Judge Cannon throwing out the classified documents indictment, which charges Mr. Trump with illegally holding onto a trove of highly sensitive state secrets after he left office and then obstructing the government’s repeated efforts to retrieve them.
The Times pointed out in their live blog that Clarence Thomas “deeply questioned the constitutionality of Smith’s appointment” in the SCOTUS ruling about Trump’s immunity from prosecution. The Times also says that there’s room for Jack Smith to ask an appeals court to remove Judge Cannon, just as there’s room for an appeal to the Supreme Court. The same Supreme Court which just gave Trump an unprecedented amount of “presidential immunity.” Absolutely crazy times.
Photos courtesy of DOJ and Cover Images.
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- Former President Donald J. Trump appears in court for his arraignment, in New York City. According to CNN: Former President Donald Trump personally pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree in a Manhattan court after hearing charges against him. The charges stem from an investigation into a hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign. Featuring: Donald Trump Where: New York, New York, United States When: 04 Apr 2023 Credit: POOL via CNP/startraksphoto.com
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- Pray Vote Stand Summit at the Omni Shoreham Hotel. Featuring: Donald J. Trump Where: Washington, District Of Columbia, United States When: 15 Sep 2023 Credit: Rod Lamkey/CNP/startraksphoto.com
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- Donald Trump Addresses the Media During Financial Fraud Trial Featuring: Donald Trump Where: New York, New York, United States When: 04 Oct 2023 Credit: Janet Mayer/startraksphoto.com
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- President Donald Trump arrived at Trump Tower following his testimony on the stand in the E. Jean Carroll trial. Featuring: Donald Trump Where: New York City, New York, United States When: 25 Jan 2024 Credit: TheNews2/Cover Images
Someone or some lobbies are pulling a lot of strings to get this man into power – that is all I got.
That’s what I’m thinking too. It feels more and more that corporate fascism is an inevitably and some very powerful people want to dismantle democracy in the US completely in the name of arms, oil, and the almighty dollar. It feels more and more like we commoners don’t stand a chance and though the beer and circus is wearing thin, we truly are in a dire situation when it comes to the now very delicate state of our democracy. The right wing can only be defeated by the strong opposition of the people and even then, it feels like it just buys us time… I feel very numb to this. It almost feels as though ‘Of course all of his charges were dismissed the day after he had his ear theatre moment.” This kind of shot rings much clearer than the one that supposedly grazed Trump’s ear.
“Ear theatre moment” made me laugh.
The Republicans are all about giving more to the rich and have everyone else being in total service to making the rich richer.
They are using “Christianity” and scaremongering against scapegoats to have others vote for them.
Project 2025 says a lot of scary shit about minorities and women, but it also makes corporations even more powerful than they are now.
I feel so much grief and despair for my daughter’s future. I had the fight in me in my 20s and I’m going to keep fighting, but it’s a daily heartbreak to watch the hour by hour dissolution of everything… it feels like the odds are impossibly stacked. Maybe it’s always been this way, I can’t even remember 🙁
@ Justjj that’s how they want you to feel – but we have to remember that power lies in the people and especially the next generation.
Your daughter and her generation will take up the mantle – they have to if they want productive and healthy lives.
Even though it was dismissed, prosecutors can appeal the decision. That may get a different judge to preside.
The problem is an appeal will take time probably past the election. And if that goes Trumps way, well you know the rest. I was listening to a podcast and it said Cannon had the motion to dismiss in February but she waited until now to rule on it. Right before the RNC convention, right after Trumps “assassination” attempt. Coincidence?
It’s no great mystery; it’s the usual suspects. Cannon must be looking for a SCOTUS appointment in a second Trump Presidency.
I feel like turning off the news until November and then possibly the next 4 yrs..
It’s hard not to feel that way. I have permanently turned off all corporate media as of a couple of weeks ago. I can literally feel my blood pressure rise when I scroll Twitter. All of this is very stressful. I just finished a book and am starting another this morning. I find it calming.
C O L L U S I O N
@Andrea I actually am turning off my political news until the election results are announced. I’ve known what my vote will be for almost 10 years now.
This is why congressional elections are so important.
Yep, so you can get judges many of which have lifetime appointments pushed through by a Congress at least attempting to support the rule of law. She’s been sandbagging for months though on this case, to either have it go to trial after the election or to do what she just did wait for the case before The supreme Court to be decided and determine that Jack Smith didn’t have the authority to convene the charges that he did.
Well, there’s that, but also Congress is where laws that stick are made. We think it’s ok for the executive branch to overstep as long as it’s headed by the president we want. But it’s not so ok if the president is someone we don’t want. And the same with the Supreme Court – it’s ok if the count goes our way, but not ok if it goes the other way, like now.
True Congress is where laws are passed, but I think it’s a group effort across all three branches right now to stack the deck as much as we possibly can. Too many people believed that our” institutions ” would protect us but they seem to be falling one by one. And I’ve never understood the argument of using executive orders, or stacking the deck with the supreme Court. It’s a temporary solution at best. Either you’re going to do exactly what Joe Biden did and rescind 70 executive orders done by your predecessor the first day in office, or you’re going to end up with a supreme Court with 17 justices on it, because people on either side are going to want to keep stacking justices anytime too many judgments come down that they don’t like. I think a better solution is to put term limits in place for the supreme Court.
It’s outrageous. The best thing we can do is respond with defiance, not despair. There’s too much at stake to give in.
Donate, organize, vote. Take breaks from the news as you need, for sure – I’m there myself. But make sure you DO something, too — you owe it to yourself, your family, everyone you love. Don’t just get numb and let it happen.
Hear, hear! @Carla
“The best thing we can do is respond with defiance, not despair. ”
^^ This
@Carla
@Carla Agreed. I’m upset but I won’t give up.
People should be in the streets about the corrupt judiciary.
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Timing is interesting. Announce it on the Monday after the shooting because the media focus is all over the shooting.
Hopefully Jack Smith has other steps he can take.
The timing was absolutely planned – she dropped this 93-page ruling on Monday, the first day of the RNC, and right after the attempted assassination of Trump on Saturday.
I hope Jack Smith has all he needs to get her removed from this case; she is awful.
They will appeal. Her decisions are routinely reversed but I don’t have much faith in a system where judges and justices have can apparently accept as many favors and cash from donors as they would like and don’t even have to report it to the public. There is something wrong with a system in which judges can be so easily and openly paid for. There is no honor in those who think that they are above ethical mandates.
The rich are recreating what our forefathers left Bititan for. We are witnessing the slow death of democracy as we know it. This man is being appointed, not elected.
Absolutely disgusting.
#VoteBlue
There’s no democracy in this country, and I’m not sure there ever has been. It was founded in the backs of enslaved people 250 years ago and continues to become ever more gerrymandered with active foreign influences suppressing and engineering candidates and votes, and outcomes in elections and the courts decided by the very wealthy few who can pay to play.
Well, he’s already sold all of our most important secrets to Putin, MBS, the fatty in North Korea — he had plenty of time, it only takes a minute to snap and hit send. He’s a traitor and yet he keeps eluding his fate, and karma. Will justice ever catch up to him? If anyone here believes in astrology, the r/astrology reddit for Trump (in particular the assassination attempt) will make your jaw drop to the floor. Why do idiots like him and Hitler and Stalin and Putin ever come to power. It’s a blank mystery — and may be written in the stars?
This is really bad.
Tealily, you are so right.
Judge Loose Cannon makes sure entire case is tied up in appeals until after the election.
Criminal prosecutions were never going to save us. Especially not this one.
We can hope that Jack Smith wins his appeal, but let’s not hold our breath. SCOTUS was never going to save us. Especially not this one.
If anyone is going to save us, it’s us. The American voters.
I don’t live there anymore, but I’m damn sure gonna vote and donate and text bank from abroad. I hope all you US-citizen Celebitchies will join me.
🎯❤️
Omfg 🤬
She should have been removed from the bench before this happened. 😡
Well I’m out on watching anymore news. I have a ton of shows that I will be rewatching until the election.
I’m watching True Detective Night Country. The thought of a creepy killer hitting in the Arctic winter is so comfortable in comparison to reality.
Smith can take this and go to the 11th and get her thrown off the case. She’s saying there’s no such thing as special prosecutors, which I guess Kenneth Starr got his powers from god directly. This would also be grounds for Hunter Biden to get his conviction tossed. It’s ridiculous. The 11th isn’t some fringe court like the Supreme Court, but who knows.
When it was clear months ago that she was in the tank for Trump, Smith should have done everything in his power to remove her then, instead of acting like all the hoops she had him jumping through were perfectly normal. It might not have worked, but there would have been a clear record of her bias.
Unfortunately Cannon is sly and made numerous paperless orders for which Smith couldn’t respond. Paperless orders are usually hard to challenge for the simple reason that typically they aren’t done for substantive orders affecting the merits of the case, they’re usually done for simple things like granting an extension or rescheduling a hearing. In a paperless order you can only appeal at the end of a case, so stay tuned, Jack Smith will be on this like a puppy on a pork chop.
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has already reprimanded Cannon twice before for aspects of this case; hopefully, now she will be removed from the case.
I think her argument is that only Congress can appoint a special prosecutor, not the president or DOJ. I don’t know if that is true or not.
IMHO, Aileen Cannon is an accessory to treason.
She has a lot of company on the courts. They are determined to install Trump. Its a coup.
I had to watch LawTube for reassurance. Special Counsel Jack Smith will definitely appeal. They pointed out how its very suspicious that this 93 page Dismissal was released today and how the judge repeatedly referenced Clarence Thomas flawed opinion (directed to her by him in the immunity decision) throughout it. The dismissal was released after the shooting but before the Repub National Convention. Talk about Loud and Wrong and very convenient!
The 11th Circuit had already reversed her for previous attempts at interference. There is hope that not only will she be reversed but that this would also serve as grounds for her removal from the case. But doubtful that this will happen before the election. I think Cannon is aiming for a high level position in the admin if 45 is re-elected. So if we don’t want to see her appointed as one of the next Supreme Court justices, we need to vote blue!
Yeah, the 11th circuit plays by the real rules. We have to vote blue from top to bottom for all this to play out though.
I was listening to Brian Tyler Cohen and he pointed out that there have been many special counsels not appointed by the senate including Bill Barr. They have led prosecutions and convictions have been won. So this is BS. Also what Clarence Thomas said had nothing to do with the immunity case and should not have been included. He was basically telling this judge that if this goes to the supreme court you’ve got my vote. Disgusting.
Tashiro, not only was it not part of the case, but it was just in his concurrence. That does NOT make it part of the decision where they needed a majority of the court to sign off on it. So, it has no importance at all. Cannon knows that as does Thomas. If Jack Smith asks for an emergency appeal to get a decision from the 11th Circuit quickly, I imagine they will do so. I can’t imagine anyone wants Cannon to harm the entire judiciary as she is now.
I’m stunned and discouraged and in shock …. and older. It is truly difficult to witness this. History will show the utter corruption. Meanwhile we and our children and grandchildren and on and on have to live through these times as well as the planet and all the wildlife, rivers and oceans. While I still can vote I will ~ not for a King Dictator but for us All.
This is just the beginning if orange man is elected president. We are toast.☹️😡
Done with the news even the local and evening news.. they are gleefully pushing this agenda with zero journalistic accountability. I’m done adding to any ratings, they have all sold us out.
I am dejected and numb.
I can’t even
He just keeps getting away with it. Everything is going his way. Unfortunately for us.
Don’t count Jack Smith and the 11 Circuit out. I do think this can move quickly, and I don’t see a benefit to the 11th Circuit to drag this out. Stay tuned. I suspect her days on the bench are numbered.
Totally agree. This actually will work in Jack Smith’s favour because he can now go to the 11th circuit appeals court, get Cannon booted from the bench and another judge assigned. This isn’t the first time she’s gotten into trouble with them, and her naked bias and kowtowing to Clarence Thomas’s underhanded direction has been revealed in all its ugliness.
Just listening to the Jack podcast with Alison Gill. Trying to gather some hope it will be overturned by the 11th circuit.