Newsweek is reporting that former President Donald Trump has pulled the celebrity card in his motion to have the classified documents indictment against him dismissed. He mentioned them, not as character witnesses, but to lambast the authority of special prosecutor Jack Smith.
Trump currently faces 40 felony counts in Florida and is accused of willfully retaining dozens of classified documents after leaving the White House and ignoring demands to give them back. Trump has denied wrongdoing and his legal team has asked US District Judge Aileen Cannon to dismiss his case.
The brief, called the amicus curiae, was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Tuesday on behalf of Edwin Meese, who served under President Ronald Reagan as attorney general, and the conservative nonprofit Citizens United, along with law professors Steven Calabresi and Gary Lawson.
In the brief, they argue that special counsel Jack Smith does not have the authority to prosecute the case. "Smith is the classic 'emperor with no clothes.' He has no more authority to represent the United States in this Court than Tom Brady, Lionel Messi, or Kanye West," the brief's conclusion says.
"The Court should grant the Motion to Dismiss on the Appointments Clause issue, and do so before ruling on the other Motions to Dismiss pending in this case."
Furthermore, it argues that Jack Smith's appointment as special counsel violates the Appointments Clause of the US Constitution.
"The way to appoint a Special Counsel consistent with the Appointments Clause is to follow the normal practice of the past quarter-century, conferring that status upon a person already serving as a U.S. Attorney, which adds a new matter to the portfolio of a Senate-confirmed principal officer," it says.
"But the Attorney General cannot appoint a private citizen or government employee, who was never confirmed by the Senate, as a substitute United States Attorney under the title 'Special Counsel,' as happened here. That appointment was unlawful, as are all the legal actions that have flowed from it, including Smith's prosecution of President Trump."
The brief argues that this alleged misstep is "nothing short of historic, and it is imperative that no former President of this Nation-especially one who is the presumptive opposition-party candidate to become President once again-go to trial and risk conviction of a crime if his prosecutor is not even authorized to speak for the United States."
The filing comes after federal prosecutors pressed Judge Cannon to schedule the classified documents case for this summer. The initial trial date is May 20 but the judge has signaled that she may be willing to reconsider it.
