Consider This from NPR - After the assassination attempt, Trump gets a string of wins

Episode Date: July 15, 2024

In the days after the assassination attempt, Donald Trump secured the Republican presidential nomination, announced his VP pick and had a legal case dismissed.Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, dismissed the entire federal case against the former president involving his handling of classified documents.Consider This host Ailsa Chang spoke with NPR Justice Correspondent Carrie Johnson about the legal issues in the ruling and its implications.For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.Email us at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The main character of the current news cycle is, once again, Donald Trump. Having remade his political party in his image, Trump will soon accept the formal presidential nomination of the GOP at the Republican National Convention. This convention will come to order. Within hours of the opening gavel, we learned who his running mate will be. It is therefore my honor to nominate Ohio Senator J.D. Vance for the office of vice president of the United States of America. And Trump himself is receiving a hearty welcome from attendees and speakers in Milwaukee as he recovers from an assassination attempt at a campaign rally on Saturday. Good evening. We are coming on the air with breaking news.

There has been an incident at Donald Trump's... I'm sorry, excuse me. I do have to cut you off for a moment here because here on your screen we do have some more breaking news from the Associated Press saying law enforcement... Tonight, an ABC News special report, the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. And while one branch of the Justice Department continues the investigation into the motive of the man who fired those shots, on Monday morning, a federal judge made another stunning announcement. Judge Eileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, dismissed the entire federal case against former President Trump involving classified documents. We're talking about the charges around how Trump took top-secret materials to Mar-a-Lago and then allegedly hid those materials from federal investigators. Consider this. Donald Trump already had a lot to be thankful for this week, and now

he has just learned he might avoid prosecution in at least one federal criminal case against him. From NPR, I'm Elsa Chang. It's Consider This from NPR. As attendees of the Republican National Convention were having breakfast in Milwaukee, they learned that Judge Eileen Cannon had dismissed all charges against former President Trump over his handling of classified documents. The timing hands Trump a surprise legal victory on the first day of the RNC. NPR Justice Correspondent Kerry Johnson has the details and joins us now. Hey, Kerry. Hey there.

Hey. Okay, so this was a bit of a surprise this morning to see the whole Mar-a-Lago case against Trump thrown out. What reasons did the judge give? Judge Cannon says the special counsel in this case was appointed unconstitutionally and that he lacked the power to bring this prosecution. The attorney general appointed Jack Smith back in 2022, but Judge Cannon says only Congress or the president should bring this prosecution. The Attorney General appointed Jack Smith back in 2022, but Judge Cannon says only Congress or the president should have that authority. Judge Cannon mentioned a recent writing by conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in a separate case against Trump. There, Justice Thomas basically invited Trump and the lower courts to take up this issue of the power of the special counsel, which kind of paved the way for this opinion today. Just so I understand, this means of the power of the special counsel, which kind of paved the way for this

opinion today. Just so I understand, this means all the charges against Trump over his alleged hoarding of classified documents, all of the charges just go away? The practical effect of the judge's ruling is to throw out the whole case, not just against Donald Trump, but also his co-defendants, his aides at the Mar-a-Lago resort. The Justice Department has the power to appeal, and there's good reason to think it will. Judge Cannon has been reversed by a conservative appeals court in this case in the past, and many other federal courts that have considered this issue under the Appointments Clause of the Constitution have all sided with the Justice Department. Law professors are pointing out there's a long

historical precedent where attorneys general name what they call inferior officers, such as the special counsel. Well, I imagine Trump and his team are beyond elated right now. What are they saying so far? Yeah, Donald Trump cheered the move and called for the dismissal of the other three criminal cases against him. I reached out this afternoon to Jesse Panuccio. He's a former Justice Department official in the Trump administration. Panuccio says the judge wrote a serious opinion and she was right to question the special counsel's authority. Mr. Smith is a private citizen who has not been vetted by the United States Senate, not been appointed by the president, exercising the full power of a United States attorney, which is vast, which is the power to prosecute and imprison people, in this case, a former president.

What do you think, going down the road, are the implications if other courts follow this reasoning from Judge Cannon? There are big implications. It could mean that both federal cases against Donald Trump, the Florida case, and then one in Washington over January 6th are over. But it also has implications for the way the Justice Department has investigated sensitive allegations against political figures since the Nixon era. Lawyer Matthew Seligman told me what's at stake is every prosecution brought by his special counsel. The Department of Justice as an institution has an overwhelming interest in defending the constitutionality and lawfulness of special counsels in general, not just because of the January 6th case, because there have been dozens of these special counsels and special prosecutors over the last decades. Think about Archibald Cox,

who investigated Nixon, or Robert Herr, who investigated Joe Biden. Exactly. Well, the thing is, Carrie, the Florida prosecution of Trump has been considered like the strongest of the four cases against the former president. Was that thinking just, I don't know, like off the mark? The bulk of the case in Florida relates to behavior by Donald Trump after he left the White House, allegedly taking secret documents to his Florida resort, storing them in bathrooms and ballrooms, and then refusing to hand over those papers when the Justice Department asked. And even after the FBI searched the property, former prosecutors told me that was as close to an open and shut

case as the DOJ might ever get. But now at best, there's going to be a lot more delay. And if Donald Trump regains the White House, he could direct his attorney general to drop any appeal and bury this case for good. That was NPR's Carrie Johnson. This episode was produced by Brianna Scott and Kai McNamee. It was edited by Patrick Jaron Watanane. Our executive producer is Sammy Yenigan.

It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Elsa Chang.