Lawfare Archive: Judge Cannon Dismisses Classified Documents Case Against Trump
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 31 January 2026
⏱️ 59 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
From July 16, 2024: On July 15, Judge Cannon granted former President Trump’s motion to dismiss the indictment brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith for the alleged mishandling of classified documents. She found that Smith was appointed as a special counsel in violation of the Appointments Clause of the Constitution.
In a live podcast recording, Lawfare Editor-in-Chief Benjamin Wittes talked to Lawfare Executive Editor Natalie Orpett, Legal Fellow and Courts Correspondent Anna Bower, Senior Editors Alan Rozenshtein and Quinta Jurecic, and Columbia Law professor Michel Paradis about Judge Cannon's decision, what Special Counsel Jack Smith may do next, how the Eleventh Circuit may rule on an appeal, how Justice Thomas’s immunity concurrence plays a role, and more.
To receive ad-free podcasts, become a Lawfare Material Supporter at www.patreon.com/lawfare. You can also support Lawfare by making a one-time donation at https://givebutter.com/lawfare-institute.
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | I'm Marissa Wong, Intern at Lawfare, with an episode from the Lawfare |
| 0:14.3 | for January 31, 2006. |
| 0:18.3 | On January 22nd, former special counsel Jack Smith testified before the House Judiciary Committee. |
| 0:26.1 | He was questioned for four and a half hours on his investigations, including the case against |
| 0:31.5 | President Trump for allegedly mishandling classified documents after leaving his first turn. |
| 0:37.3 | Because of the gag order issued by |
| 0:38.9 | Judge Eileen Cannon when she dismissed the indictment, Smith was unable to share critical |
| 0:43.9 | details of the investigation during the hearing. The gag order is set to be lifted as early as |
| 0:49.1 | next month, and the committee is reportedly seeking to bring Smith back to discuss the details of the classified documents investigation. |
| 0:57.1 | For today's archive, I chose an episode from July 16th, 2004, in which Benjamin Wittes sat down with Anna Bauer, Quinta Jurecic, Alan Rosenstein, Natalie Orpett, and Michelle Parody to discuss Judge Cannon's dismissal of the |
| 1:12.5 | classified documents indictment, how Judge Thomas's immunity concurrence played a role, and more. |
| 1:31.0 | It's The Lawfare podcast. |
| 1:32.5 | I'm Benjamin Wittes, |
| 1:34.3 | Lawfare Editor-in-Chief, |
| 1:37.5 | here with Natalie Orpet, Lawfare Executive Editor. Anna Bauer, Lawfare Legal Fellow in Courts correspondent, |
| 1:42.3 | Alan Rosenstein, and Quinta Jurecic, both Lawfare Senior |
| 1:47.0 | Editors and Michelle Paradie, Columbia Law Professor and Defense Attorney at the Military |
| 1:54.9 | Commissions. Anytime you're talking about this, you're talking about the government essentially |
| 1:59.4 | pretending that it is not the one making decisions on behalf of the government. |
| 2:04.3 | Today we're talking about Judge Cannon's order granting former President Trump's motion |
| 2:10.6 | to dismiss the classified documents indictment. |
| 2:14.3 | The decision is based on the appointments clause. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Lawfare Institute, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Lawfare Institute and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.