Special counsel Jack Smith, has withdrawn the Justice Department’s appeal concerning the DOJ’s classified documents case brought against two co-defendants of President-elect Donald Trump. (Drew Angerer / Getty Images; Andrew Harnik / Getty Images)
WESTERN JOURNAL | Published January 3, 2025
However, Smith’s team had filed an appeal at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta that is still active regarding Trump aide Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago employee Carlos De Oliveira in the documents case.
Both Nauta and De Oliveira had pleaded not guilty to conspiring “to obstruct justice by attempting to delete Mar-a-Lago surveillance footage that prosecutors say showed employees moving boxes around, in order ‘to conceal information from the FBI and grand jury,’ according to the indictment,” ABC News reported.
Federal district court Judge Aileen Cannon ruled in July that the DOJ’s appointment of Smith as special counsel was unconstitutional, concluding the move needed congressional approval.
The DOJ then appealed her decision to the 11th Circuit in August.
Smith’s team has now referred the case to the DOJ’s Southern District of Florida office, according to ABC News.
It seems likely that when Trump becomes president, the new administration will move quickly to drop the charges against Nauta and De Oliveira.
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SOURCE: www.westernjournal.com
RELATED: Smith transfers Mar-a-Lago docs case to US attorney’s office
THE HILL | Published January 3, 2025
Special counsel Jack Smith formally withdrew from the Mar-a-Lago documents case Friday, referring the ongoing prosecution of President-elect Trump’s two co-defendants to federal prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida.
Smith formally dropped charges against Trump in both of his federal cases in November, dismissing them without prejudice while citing Justice Department policy that prohibits prosecution of a sitting president.
While the move swiftly wrapped Trump’s pending election interference case, the Mar-a-Lago documents case ended for Trump but continues for his two co-defendants.
Trump’s valet Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos de Oliveira were charged alongside the president-elect for a broader conspiracy to hide boxes of records from his time in office — concealing them both from federal investigators and Trump’s then-attorney.
The two face obstruction of justice charges as well as those for making false statements to investigators. The two men also face various charges related to concealing documents.
Investigators found some 300 documents with classified markings among thousands of pages of records from Trump’s presidency that he took with him when leaving office — breaking the protocol of having such records managed by the National Archives.
The boxes were shuffled from room to room at the property, Trump’s residence in Florida, and were even stored on a ballroom stage and in a bathroom while in other cases their contents had spilled onto the floor.
The case is currently sitting before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Smith had challenged a ruling tossing the case from Judge Aileen Cannon, who determined Smith was unlawfully appointed.
That appeal continues, as the Justice Department argues Cannon defied 50 years of precedent regarding special counsels in dismissing the case.
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SOURCE: www.thehill.com
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