George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said Monday that special counsel Jack Smith has been “undone by his appetite” by overreaching in the now-dismissed classified documents case against former President Donald Trump.
Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the case on the grounds that Attorney General Merrick Garland’s appointment of Smith violates the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution in a Monday decision. Trump’s team filed a motion to dismiss the case in February, which charged the former president in June 2023 with 37 counts for allegedly unlawfully storing classified documents inside his Mar-a-Lago residence.
“But what Judge Cannon is saying here is essentially there’s this weird anomaly, in the Constitution, we have a process,” Turley explained. “U.S. attorneys are nominated and they are then confirmed by the Senate. And yet the attorney general can just go to any street and pick any person and make them a special counsel with greater authority than the U.S. attorney. And that’s what she’s trying to get at here, saying where is the footprint for this in the Constitution? Where is the authority to create a Jack Smith within the first three articles of the Constitution?”
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Turley noted this decision is a major victory for Trump, classifying the case as the most egregious indictment against him.
“So it’s a huge win for Trump. Other courts have really dismissed this claim with very little briefing,” Turley continued. “And so this will create a conflict. There are good arguments on both sides here. But you couldn’t have more favorable news for Donald Trump because I’ve said it from the beginning. The Florida case was by far the greatest threat to Donald Trump.” (RELATED: ‘Completely Unprecedented’: CNN’s Elie Honig Torpedoes Dems’ Hopes Trump’s Classified Docs Judge Will Exit Case)
The former president faced four separate indictments throughout the past year by Smith, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. A jury found Trump guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up an alleged affair with former porn actress Stormy Daniels in relation to Bragg’s case in May.
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a major blow to Smith’s four-count indictment in Washington, D.C., by ruling Trump is granted presidential immunity from official acts taken while in office. The ruling raised the question as to whether Smith can charge the former president for actions taken to overturn the 2020 election results.
Turley said Smith has consistently overreached his power by piling on charges against the former president.
“There’s also an irony here. Jack Smith has always been undone by his appetite,” Turley said. “He has always gone for the greatest number of charges, the most aggressive approach, it got him reversed 8-0 before the Supreme Court in his previous major case. This is another example of overreach. If he had simply brought an obstruction charge against Trump, he very well could have had that trial before the election. But he had decided to pile on these classified documents charges. And it, I can tell you, I’ve been a cleared defense counsel in national security cases, when you have that many classified documents, it’s like invading Russia in winter. I mean, it goes very slowly.”
Justice Clarence Thomas recently suggested Smith’s appointment “may violate our constitutional structure” in his concurring opinion to the presidential immunity case.
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