Attorney General Merrick Garland weighed in on former President Donald Trump’s now-scrapped classified documents case on Tuesday, arguing that he wouldn’t make a “basic mistake when selecting a special counsel to lead the probe.
Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the case against Trump, ruling that Garland’s appointment of a special counsel to the case was unconstitutional.
In an interview with Ken Dilanian on Tuesday, Garland said he disagreed with Cannon’s ruling, standing by his decision to tap special counsel Jack Smith to prosecute the case.
“For more than 20 years, I was a federal judge. Do I look like somebody who would make that basic mistake about the law? I don’t think so,” he said.
“This is the same process of appointing special counsel as was followed in the previous administration,” he continued. “Until now, every single court, including the Supreme Court, that has considered the legality of a special counsel appointment has upheld it.”
Trump faced 40 charges related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents and his alleged obstruction of the government’s efforts to recover them from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
Earlier this month, his team filed a motion to try to halt the case after the Supreme Court ruled that U.S. presidents, including Trump during his presidency, have broad immunity from prosecution for “official” acts. In a concurring opinion in that case, Justice Clarence Thomas also questioned whether Smith had been lawfully appointed.
“If this unprecedented prosecution is to proceed, it must be conducted by someone duly authorized to do so by the American people,” Thomas wrote in his opinion.
In her decision, Cannon ruled that the appointment of Smith to prosecute the case was a violation of a clause in the Constitution that gives Congress “a pivotal role” in appointing certain government positions, which “cannot be usurped by the Executive Branch or diffused elsewhere — whether in this case or another case, whether in times of heightened national need or not.” She cited Thomas ruling.
Smith appealed Trump’s motion shortly after in an attempt to reinstate the indictment.