Special counsel Jack Smith withdraws from appeal of classified docs case against Trump’s co-defendants
Written by ABC AUDIO on December 30, 2024
(WASHINGTON) — Special counsel Jack Smith’s team has withdrawn from their appeal of the classified documents case against President-elect Donald Trump’s co-defendants and referred the case to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, according to a court filing Monday afternoon.
Smith last month dropped his appeal against Trump due to a longstanding Department of Justice policy prohibiting the prosecution of a sitting president, but his team continued to pursue their appeal against Trump’s two co-defendants in the case, longtime Trump aide Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago employee Carlos De Oliveira.
Trump pleaded not guilty last June to 37 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials, after prosecutors said he repeatedly refused to return hundreds of documents containing classified information ranging from U.S. nuclear secrets to the nation’s defense capabilities, and took steps to thwart the government’s efforts to get the documents back.
The former president, along with Nauta and De Oliveira, also pleaded not guilty to allegedly attempting to delete surveillance footage at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
Smith’s appeal, to the Atlanta-based Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, came after U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed Smith’s case in July, citing the constitutionality of his appointment as special counsel.
With the appeal ongoing, Smith’s team on Monday withdrew from the case and passed the case to federal prosecutors in Florida. In a separate filing, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Markenzy Lapointe, entered his appearance in the case.
A representative for the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
Smith has also been winding down his federal election interference case against Trump following Trump’s reelection, and is expected to issue a report on his investigations to Attorney General Merrick Garland in the coming weeks.
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