Former President Donald Trump on Saturday wrote that special counsel Jack Smith made an admission in a court filing in connection to how he was appointed as a special prosecutor in the classified documents case.
In a court filing last week, the special counsel wrote he was lawfully appointed to his position by Attorney General Merrick Garland, rejecting arguments filed by President Trump’s attorneys and third parties. They had asserted that the attorney general violated the Constitution’s Appropriations Clause that federal officers have to first be appointed by Congress, not specific federal agencies.
“The Attorney General has the statutory authority to appoint a Special Prosecutor,” Mr. Smith an his team wrote in the filing submitted to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon. They wrote that “section 533 confirms that “the Attorney General may appoint officials … to detect and prosecute crimes against the United States” and later added, “Precedent establishes that the Attorney General has statutory authority to appoint the Special Counsel.”…
