Prosecutors ask reinstate Trump classified documents charges

US prosecutors are seeking to reinstate the criminal case charging Donald Trump with mishandling classified documents and obstruction, arguing a Florida judge was wrong to toss out the indictment this summer.

Less than three months before US voters decide if Trump should win a second term as president, Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office on Monday asked an appeals court to reverse US District Judge Aileen Cannon’s July order.

Prosecutors say Cannon erred in finding Smith’s appointment was unconstitutional.

Cannon, who was appointed to the federal court in south Florida by Trump in 2020, held that Congress hadn’t clearly given Attorney General Merrick Garland the authority to appoint Smith, which meant the entire prosecution was unlawful.

She also found that the use of federal funds to pay for Smith’s work violated the US Constitution.

Cannon’s “contrary view conflicts with an otherwise unbroken course of decisions, including by the Supreme Court, that the Attorney General has such authority, and it is at odds with widespread and longstanding appointment practices in the Department of Justice and across the government,” prosecutors argued.