'That's not true': CNN's Kaitlan Collins corners Trump lawyer on prosecutor appointment
July 17, 2024
CNN's Kaitlan Collins cornered former President Donald Trump's attorney Todd Blanche on special counsel Jack Smith's appeal to reverse Judge Aileen Cannon's dismissal of the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case — something that legal experts stressed flew completely in the face of decades of precedent and understanding of how the special counsel regulations are written, and many hope will lead to Cannon being thrown off the case entirely when it restarts.
Blanche tried to argue that Cannon was right to find the case unconstitutional under the Appointments Clause because federal prosecutors are always Senate-confirmed — then when Collins pointed out that tons of them are not, he immediately shifted the goalposts.
"I think it's going to stand on appeal for sure," said Blanche. "I mean, the 11th Circuit ... there's no case that's ever appeared in front of them consistent with this. And Judge Cannon's opinion, 93 pages, consistent with the law, consistent with the legislative history. It's a really beautifully accurate, well-written decision. We have no fear in front of the 11th Circuit." (Notably, the 11th Circuit has already overruled Cannon, a Trump-appointed judge who has faced accusations of partisan bias, for other improper decisions around the classified documents investigation.)
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"When Donald Trump was in office, when he was president, the 11th Circuit did face a case like this with Robert Mueller as special counsel and they upheld his appointment," said Collins. "So why do you think that they'll rule differently now?"
"Well that was the D.C. Circuit," said Blanche. "Judge Cannon is not bound by the D.C. Circuit and the 11th Circuit is not bound by the D.C. Circuit ... we're very confident that the 11th Circuit is going to affirm, and if it goes to the Supreme Court, that the Supreme Court will affirm as well."
"But there are a lot of U.S. attorneys that are not Senate-confirmed," said Collins. "So I think some people may look at this and say, well, why does the special counsel have to be?"
"Well, that's not true," said Blanche. "There aren't a lot of U.S. attorneys who are not—"
"There are multiple U.S. attorneys who are not Senate-confirmed," Collins pressed him.
"That's not true," he insisted. "There's a process that happens when there's a U.S. attorney vacancy, and you can be acting for awhile, and then the judges of that district actually make you the U.S. attorney. It's nothing like what Jack Smith — it's not a situation where the attorney general just says, hey, you're a private citizen and you can come and you can sign indictments and you can prosecute people, and you can take away somebody's liberty, you can take away the President of the United States' liberty."
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