'Positively pummeled': Cannon allows constitutional lawyers to trash Trump in new brief

Judge Aileen Cannon, an appointee of Donald Trump's who faces accusations of bias, has allowed the submission of a new brief trashing the former president's challenge to special counsel Jack Smith's appointment, court records and reports show.

Law&Crime revealed Thursday that the Florida federal court judge overseeing Trump's classified documents case allowed experts to submit a motion that "positively pummeled the ex-president."

The constitutional lawyers and federal officials — who include multiple former U.S. attorneys general — target Trump's demand to have his Espionage Act charges dismissed on the grounds that Smith's 2022 appointment was unconstitutional, court records show.

"That contention is demonstrably incorrect," the brief states. "The arguments...made by Mr. Trump and his amici are wholly without merit. Indeed, their positions are mutually inconsistent."

The constitutional lawyers include a number of notable former officials from Republican administrations, such as Donald Ayer, who served under George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan.

Another is Philip Allen Lacovara, who was the counselor on the special prosecutor's team during the Watergate probe. He drafted the government's brief in the United States v. Nixon.

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Others include former acting Attorney General Stuart Gerson, one-time assistant Attorney General Tom Coleman, ex-New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman and U.S. Secretary of the Army Louis Caldera.

Trump's arguments were also derided in a motion Smith filed in February, when he argued the legal theories behind the claim were not "novel or meritorious."

“Resolving the validity of the Special Counsel’s appointment would not lead to an accelerated appellate proceeding if Trump’s claim failed," Smith wrote. "Unlike with a non-frivolous immunity claim, Trump would have no right to an interlocutory appeal should the Court deny his Appointments Clause challenge."

On Thursday, Trump demanded Jack Smith be censured for his recent brief that forced Cannon's hand on controversial jury instructions. The filing made his "frustration" apparent, analysts have said.