What the dismissal of Trump's classified documents case means for his campaign

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

We have some perspective on a court ruling in favor of former President Trump. Judge Aileen Cannon released her ruling on the opening day of the Republican National Convention. It dismisses one of the four cases against the former president - the classified documents case. The FBI found many boxes of classified materials in Trump's possession after he failed to return them to the White House. So that is the news that we have been covering for this past hour. Now NPR's Scott Detrow is here with some analysis. He is host of NPR's Trump Trials (ph) podcast. Scott, good morning.

SCOTT DETROW, BYLINE: Morning, Steve.

INSKEEP: Thanks for joining us after a busy weekend. How did this case rank among his various indictments?

DETROW: This was probably the most serious case that Trump was facing when it came to the hard evidence against him. Remember, this case centered around classified documents that Trump allegedly took with him back to Mar-a-Lago after he left the presidency. It wasn't just about the possession of the documents. It was about the refusal of Trump and one aide and the people around him to return them to the federal government. The federal government tried and tried and tried to get these documents back, and there was resistance from Trump and his circle. And that ultimately led to that dramatic raid just about two years ago when the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago and retrieved documents from throughout the residents.

INSKEEP: OK, so you find this to be in some ways more clear cut and even more significant than, say, the January 6 related cases. Let's talk about the judge here. Aileen Cannon finds this to be an improper prosecution because the appointment of a special counsel was unconstitutional. Is that an unusual ruling?

DETROW: Well, I think it's something that you've seen a lot of a push for in conservative legal circles in recent years. There's a pretty long precedent of special counsels, certainly the major news stories that we've covered in recent decades. But you've seen increased push to try and say that this is not something that is legal. And I think that culminated with a concurring opinion that Justice Clarence Thomas issued in the recent ruling that granted broad immunity to sitting presidents that directly applied to the other federal case that Trump is facing. I think there's been a lot of scrutiny on how Aileen Cannon has handled this case. It's important to note that she was a judge appointed by Trump toward the end of his term in office. She had really slow-walked this case. The charges were brought a year ago. Cannon had delayed issuing key decisions, had delayed the case indefinitely, and on top of that, had continued to add on hearing after hearing, listening to arguments on increasingly broad questions that did not get to the core of the case and did not get to the key answers that she had still refused to issue a ruling on.

INSKEEP: That's a very interesting thing that you raise here, Scott. Earlier this morning, we heard from August Pfluger. He's a Republican member of Congress getting ready for the Republican convention. And we shared with him this news of the court ruling by Judge Cannon, and he said he approved of it, and he suggested that this had been a political prosecution. He used the term lawfare, which is a buzz phrase that is used to describe this kind of prosecution. Are you saying that there are also questions about politics on the other side of this case?

DETROW: Absolutely. I think as this had dragged on and as Cannon delayed the case - and remember, it is important to note that delay is a key part of Trump's legal argument in this and other cases, because if he returns to the White House next year, he could have the power to order the Justice Department to drop the case against him or he could pardon himself. And those are both avenues Trump has made it clear he would take. So he was just trying to delay the case, get back into the White House and end the case against him. And now, Judge Cannon, who had delayed this case over and over and over again, has made that increasingly likely.

INSKEEP: OK, I'm just thinking about a kind of scorecard here now - four indictments, one conviction, one dismissal, and there's two still to go, right?

DETROW: And the two cases that have to do with his efforts to overturn the election are indefinitely paused because the Supreme Court ruling about immunity raises serious questions about what prosecutors could bring.

INSKEEP: Scott Detrow, host of NPR's Trump Trials podcast. Pleasure to hear from you. Thanks.

DETROW: Thanks, Steve. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.