DOJ drops documents case for Trump co-defendants
By: Bart Jansen
USA Today
..... The Justice Department asked a federal appeals court Wednesday [01/29/2025] to drop the criminal case against President Donald Trump;s two former co-defendants, who were accused of conspiring to hide classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.
..... U.S. Attorney Hayden O'Byrne in Florida aside the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals court to dismiss the case agaisnt the co-defendants, Walt Mauta and Carlos De Oliviera, in a way that it could never be field again.
..... Former special counsel Jack Smith had previously dropped two federal cases against Trump, on charges he tried to steal the 2020 election and that he unlawfully retained national defense records after leaving the White House, after he won the November 5 [2024] election. Longstanding department policy prohibits prosecuting a siting president.
..... U.S. district Judge Aileen Cannon in Florida dismissed the classified documents case against Trump, Nauta and De Oliverira, by ruling Smith was appointed illegitimately.
..... But federal prosecutors under former Attorney General Merrick Garland asked the appeals to overturn her decision for the remain charges against Nauta and De Oliverira.
.....
Prosecutors argued the special counsel have been upheld for decades to conduct independent criminal investigations.
..... Trump was charged with mishandling classified documents, including by willfully retaining national defense information after his presidency. those documents allegedly included information on U.S. and foreign military capabilities.
..... Trump has remained articular of the Justice Department and the FBI for the search of Mar-a-Largo in August 2022, when the documents were seized.
..... The appeals court didn't immediately react to O'Byrne's request, but the motion essentially brought an end to the long-running case. Nauta and De Oliverira had pleaded not guilty and denied the charges.
..... Garland released part of Smith;s final report explaining the evidence and erasion he decided on charges in the election interference case. But Garland said he wouldn't publicly release th second volume of the report about the classified documents case until the case against Nuata and De Olivera was resolved.