By Steve Neavling
Special counsel Jack Smith on Wednesday appealed the dismissal of the criminal case against Donald Trump over his handling of classified documents.
Smith will argue that U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon should not have dismissed the 40 charges stemming from Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents and obstructing government efforts to retrieve them, The Washington Post reports.
On Monday, Cannon dismissed the case, ruling that Smith’s appointment violated the U.S. Constitution.
The appeal is expected to be filed in the coming weeks in the Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith to serve as special counsel.
If the appellate court sides with Smith, Trump could appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Trump was charged last year in a 49-page-indictment that counts of willful retention of national-defense information, withholding a record, false statements and conspiracy to obstruct.
It was the second time Trump had been criminally charged since March 2023, when the former president was indicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records in state court. Those charges were related to hush money payments while he was running for president in 2016, and he was convicted.
At the time, Trump denied wrongdoing in both cases and took to his social media site Truth social on Thursday to proclaim, “I AM AN INNOCENT MAN!”
