Politics

Illinois Elected Officials React to Judge Dismissing Trump’s Classified Documents Case

U.S. Rep. Mike Bost speaks at the Illinois Delegates Breakfast at the Comfort Suites Milwaukee Airport on Monday, July 15, 2024. (Michael Izquierdo / WTTW News)

Applause broke out Monday morning as Illinois delegates got word during their meeting at the Republican National Convention that a judge dismissed the federal classified documents case against former President Donald Trump.

Judge Aileen Cannon found the case involving the storage of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago should be dismissed because it was brought by a special prosecutor who was improperly appointed.

“The powers of the president should not be infringed upon. He or she has to be able to run the country,” said U.S. Rep. Mike Bost to fellow Illinois Republicans. “We have to make sure that the president still holds those powers regardless of which party it is. And I think that’s what this was about.”

But, in Bost’s view, Trump taking home documents form the White House when he was president is different than the classified documents President Joe Biden had as a private citizen from his time as vice president, which Biden, unlike Trump, later willingly disclosed.

In February, a special counsel found that no criminal charges were warranted against Biden.

Bost said the key difference is that Trump took papers when he was still president, while Biden had been vice president.

“The only – the only – person in this nation that can, and have, the ability to remove and/or change the classification is the sitting president of the United States,” Bost said.

The FBI executed a search warrant in August 2022 to locate and seize boxes of various levels of sensitive materials from Trump.

It’s the latest legal win for Trump.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that presidents cannot be criminally prosecuted for charges related to their official actions, in a case brought by Trump as he seeks to overcome charges he conspired to overturn his 2020 election loss.

Bost also agrees with that ruling, as he said a president can’t spend all of their time “double guessing” when they have to make critical decisions, Bost said.

Illinois Republican National Committeeman Richard Porter said prosecuting a former president is a power that should be reserved for Senate-confirmed U.S. attorneys.

“I mean, you don’t want to have lesser offices making major decisions,” Porter said. “The government is supposed to be of, by and for the people, and the people’s voice is through the Senate confirmation process. I have thought for a long time that it’s constitutionally faulty for someone to be appointed to a position where they can make a decision about indicting a former president of the United States without having been Senate confirmed.”

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith to avoid the appearance that Department of Justice investigations into Trump were driven by politics, given Biden and Trump’s rivalry.

But Illinois Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, called the decision “unprecedented” and said that it “undermines the entire system that our country has long relied on to protect the independence of investigations of the Executive Branch and prosecutions of political figures. I’ve long worked to ensure that the Department of Justice works on behalf of the American people – not partisan interests. This decision further erodes that distinction, and it should be promptly overturned on appeal.”

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