The former president said that a recent filing in court revealed a major admission.
Former President Donald Trump on March 9 wrote that special counsel Jack Smith made an admission in a court filing in connection to how he was appointed as a special prosecutor in the classified documents case against the former president.
In a court filing last week, the special counsel wrote that he was lawfully appointed to his position by Attorney General Merrick Garland, rejecting arguments filed by President Trump’s attorneys and third parties. They had asserted that the attorney general violated the Constitution’s Appropriations Clause, which states that federal officers have to first be appointed by Congress, not specific federal agencies.
“The Attorney General has the statutory authority to appoint a Special Prosecutor,” Mr. Smith and his team wrote in the filing, submitted to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon. They wrote that Section 533 confirms that “the Attorney General may appoint officials … to detect and prosecute crimes against the United States“ and later added, ”Precedent establishes that the Attorney General has statutory authority to appoint the Special Counsel.”
Also in the brief, prosecutors wrote that although “he remains subject to Attorney General direction and supervision, he also retains ‘a substantial degree of independent decisionmaking,’” and isn’t part of the regular Department of Justice “chain of command.”
The filing was made in connection to criminal allegations that the 45th president illegally kept classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence after he left the White House. He has denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Over the weekend, President Trump wrote on Truth Social, “While Crooked Joe Biden and his Cronies have claimed from the outset they have nothing to do with Jack Smith’s Election Interference case against me, Smith himself admitted in a Court Filing yesterday that he ’remains subject to Attorney General direction and supervision,’ and that includes Biden.”
“So, although he denies it, Garland is carrying out the orders from his boss to prosecute me, and to interfere in the 2024 Election. No sitting President has ever abused the Power of his Office so blatantly to pursue his Political Opponent in an Election year,” he wrote. “This is the Greatest Threat to Democracy in the History of our Country! Joe Biden should stop the Ridiculous and Democracy Destroying Prosecutions.”
Biden administration officials and Mr. Garland have denied that they are directing Mr. Smith to target President Trump for political purposes. Mr. Garland has also said that he had the authority to appoint special counsel in the case and has said that Mr. Smith has a “commitment to both independence and accountability” regarding the cases.
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