A federal prosecutor trying to throw Donald Trump in prison over his handling of classified documents was furious when the case was brought to Florida.
DOJ attorney David Raskin was a part of the team who indicted Trump for mishandling classified documents following his departure from the White House.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation raided then-former President Donald Trump’s Palm Beach residence in August 2022, where they uncovered piles of classified documents stuffed in a Mar-a-Lago bathroom.
Raskin hoped that his boss, special FBI special counsel Jack Smith, would bring the case against Trump to Washington, DC, a Democrat stronghold with a jury pool unfavorable to Trump.
Smith, however, decided to file the case in Florida with Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon overseeing the case.
Raskin learned of Smith’s decision after bumping into a colleague, according to the Washington Post.
‘Are you all f***ing insane?’ Raskin told his fellow prosecutor in Spring 2023 after learning of Smith’s decision. Raskin was told the news in a hallway at the DC Justice Department headquarters.
Smith and his top lieutenants at the DOJ believed they would have firmer legal standing if they tried the Trump documents case in Florida. Moreover, Biden’s DOJ officials concluded there was a low chance that Cannon would oversee the case — they were wrong.
Special Counsel Jack Smith was slammed by a fellow prosecutor after he filed Trump’s documents case in Florida instead of DC
The FBI raided Trump’s Florida home in August 2022 where they found classified documents stuffed in a bathroom
Trump labeled Smith’s efforts to prosecute him as a ‘witch hunt’ at the time
Smith’s team initially predicted that there was one a 1 in 6 chance that Cannon would be assigned the document’s case.
‘I’m not worried about Florida,’ Smith boasted to top Justice Department officials when presenting his decision. WaPo’s report comes directly from the book ‘Injustice,’ which includes interviews with senior Biden officials with first hand accounts of Trump’s DOJ prosecutions.
Cannon, however, did take over the unprecedented criminal case accusing Trump of 40 charges relating to mishandling classified material after leaving office.
The judge had previously blocked federal agents from examining sensitive documents seized from Trump’s club.
Even after Cannon took over the case, Smith was still reportedly confident the DOJ’s evidence would win her over against Trump.
By July 2024 of the trial process, Cannon, however, was not convinced.
She dismissed Smith’s case against Trump entirely, ruling that Smith’s appointment as special prosecutor was unconstitutional.
Smith believed that even if Aileen Cannon took over the case that his evidence would convince her to turn against Trump — he was wrong
Cannon dismissed the documents case in July 2024 after ruling Smith was unconstitutionally appointed as special prosecutor
The DOJ appealed the ruling but later abandoned the motion after Trump won the presidency in November.
Smith’s separate criminal case against Trump focusing on his attempts to overturn the election results in DC was also dropped following the election.
The DOJ’s prosecution of Trump was unprecedented, as the department has traditionally avoided prosecuting major candidates during an election year—let alone a former president.
Trump’s DOJ has gone after the president’s political rivals since his return to the White House, including former FBI Director James Comey, former national security adviser John Bolton, and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
