On Wednesday, July 17, 2024, Raw Story reported that prominent attorney Ben Meiselas slammed the recent ruling in the Mar-a-Lago documents case by Judge Aileen Cannon as “horrific” and predicted she would be removed from the case.
Speaking on the “Meidas Touch” podcast, Meiselas criticized Judge Cannon’s decision earlier this week to dismiss the criminal indictments brought against former President Donald Trump by special counsel Jack Smith. Cannon, a Trump appointee, had ruled that Smith’s appointment by Attorney General Merrick Garland was invalid because Smith had not been confirmed by the Senate.
However, Meiselas argued this reasoning was horribly flawed and contradicted legal precedent. He pointed out that special counsels have routinely been used in both Republican and Democratic administrations for independent investigations, including the probe into Hunter Biden.
Yet Cannon limited her order specifically to Trump, implying in Meiselas’ view that special counsels are only unlawful when investigating the former president. The attorney described Cannon’s ruling as a “horrific decision” that was not supported by case law.
Meiselas asserted that the ruling would allow Smith to appeal the decision to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. And he expressed confidence that Smith would “no doubt” seek Judge Cannon’s removal from the case on appeal.
Raw Story also reported comments from Peter Carr, a spokesperson for Smith. Carr stressed that federal courts have repeatedly upheld an Attorney General’s power to appoint a special counsel without Senate confirmation. Carr said the Justice Department had authorized Smith to appeal Cannon’s “order that deviates from uniform precedent.”
Source: Raw Story
