Special counsel Jack Smith has withdrawn from what's left of the Mar-a-Lago documents case, leaving it's remnants in the hands of officials in Donald Trump's home state.
Smith and his team had been appealing a decision by Judge Aileen Cannon to dismiss the case on the grounds that Smith's appointment was not lawful. When President-elect Trump won in November, Smith dropped charges against the incoming president, following a U.S. Justice Department policy that bars the criminal prosecution of sitting presidents, The Hill reported.
The appeal of Cannon's decision was continuing in regard to two co-defendants. Now, Smith and his team have withdrawn from the case entirely, leaving it in the hands of federal prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida, ABC News reported.
The case now solely involves Trump's valet, Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos de Oliveira. Trump once faced 37 criminal counts related to the handling of classified documents. The government had charged that Trump refused repeated requests for the documents, including ignoring a subpoena in May 2022, and that Nauta and de Oliveira helped to try to conceal the records, ABC News reported.
The two men still face obstruction of justice charges and charges of making false statements to investigators. The government did find 102 classified documents, including 17 marked top secret, when they executed a search warrant in August 2022, ABC News reported.
