Special counsel Jack Smith has ended his attempt to prosecute President-elect Donald Trump — but still plans to pursue the classified documents case against the incoming commander in chief’s two co-defendants.
Smith, 55, noted in a Monday filing in the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit that his appeal of Florida federal jurist Aileen Cannon’s dismissal of the case will continue with regards to Trump’s longtime personal aide Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira.
“The appeal concerning the other two defendants will continue because, unlike defendant Trump, no principle of temporary immunity applies to them,” the special counsel wrote in his motion to dismiss his appeal against the president-elect.
Cannon threw out the 38 criminal counts against Trump in July, as well as the eight against Nauta and the four against De Oliveira, after finding that Smith was unconstitutionally appointed because he lacked congressional confirmation.
On Tuesday, the 11th circuit granted Smith’s request to dismiss the case against “Trump only.”
In a separate filing with the 11th circuit, Smith pressed the appeals court to overturn Cannon’s “flawed analysis” in order to continue the government’s prosecution against Nauta and De Oliveira.
“The Supreme Court held more than 50 years ago that Congress vested the Attorney General with the power to appoint special prosecutors like the Special Counsel,” Smith argued.
John Irving, a lawyer for De Oliveira, argued that Smith’s effort to continue the case against his client was emblematic of the special counsel’s “poor judgement” to go after the Mar-a-Lago employee at the outset.
“The Special Counsel’s decision to proceed in this case even after dismissing it against President Trump is an unsurprising tribute to the poor judgment that led to the indictment against Mr. De Oliveira in the first place,” Irving said in a statement.
“Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. If they prefer a slow acquittal, that’s fine with us,” he added.
Attorneys for Nauta and Trump did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
It’s unclear how much longer Smith will actually be able pursue the documents case against Nauta and De Oliveira since he’s reportedly been working to wind down his cases and step down before the former president gets sworn back into office on Jan. 20, 2025.
Trump, 78, has promised to fire Smith within “two seconds” of being sworn back into the White House.
Earlier this week, the Washington Post reported that Trump intends to fire not only Smith, but his entire team upon re-entering office.
A spokesperson for Smith’s office — citing former special counsel Robert Mueller’s report in the Trump-Russia investigation — told The Post that after the special counsel’s office closes, responsibilities for matters that remain open can be transferred to “other components of the Department of Justice and the FBI.”
