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Al’s Afternoon Tea: Trump Dodges Another Bullet as Classified Documents Case Dismissed

Trump "thrilled," announces Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as running mate.

The staged photo from the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago. The criminal case involving these documents has been thrown out by Federal Judge Aileen Cannon.

By Al Perrotta Published on July 15, 2024 •

Al Perrotta

Welcome back in for Al’s Afternoon Tea, where we’re serving up the latest on the assassination attempt against Donald Trump and the opening of the Republican National Convention.

The convention started with a bang. Not only did Trump formally win the GOP nomination for president, he named freshman Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate. We have all the details in “And the Pick Is … Ohio Senator J.D. Vance.” 

Earlier today, Trump talked about the shooting with reporters on his flight to Milwaukee, sharing the story behind his already-iconic fist pump, how the attack has impacted him … and yes, he explains why he needed to get his shoes. You can read all about it in “‘Grateful’ Trump Opens Up About the Attempt on His Life and How It Has Impacted His Campaign.”

Feds Drop Classified Documents Case Against Trump 

Not only did Trump dodge a literal bullet on Saturday, today he also dodged a legal bullet.

U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon has tossed out the classified documents case against the former president that was pending in Florida, ruling that Special Counsel Jack Smith was not lawfully appointed and the U.S. Department of Justice has improperly funded his office. Echoing Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s concurrent opinion in the presidential immunity case, Cannon says naming Smith as prosecutor violates the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

“Both the Appointments and Appropriations challenges as framed in the Motion raise the following threshold question: is there a statute in the United States Code that authorizes the appointment of Special Counsel Smith to conduct this prosecution?” Cannon wrote in her 93-page opinion. “After careful study of this seminal issue, the answer is no.”

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland usurped Congress’s role by appointing Smith as special counsel, because he was neither nominated by the president nor confirmed by the Senate.

Constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley called the decision “seismic.” Of the many lawfare cases that have been filed against Trump under the Biden administration, he said, this one posed the greatest legal threat to him.

Trump celebrated the decision, saying on Truth Social:

As we move forward in Uniting our Nation after the horrific events on Saturday, this dismissal of the Lawless Indictment in Florida should be just the first step, followed quickly by the dismissal of ALL the Witch Hunts — The January 6th Hoax in Washington, D.C., the Manhattan D.A.’s Zombie Case, the New York A.G. Scam, Fake Claims about a woman I never met (a decades old photo in a line with her then husband does not count), and the Georgia “Perfect” Phone Call charges. The Democrat Justice Department coordinated ALL of these Political Attacks, which are an Election Interference conspiracy against Joe Biden’s Political Opponent, ME. Let us come together to END all Weaponization of our Justice System, and Make America Great Again!

Biden Wants to Lower the Temperature

If we had a dime for every time in the last 48 hours we’ve heard politicians describe the need to “lower the temperature,” we could buy a house in Manhattan. In cash.

But does anyone on the Left mean it when they say this? Did Joe Biden mean it last night when he read his six-minute speech off a teleprompter in a rare address from the Oval Office? After all, he didn’t mention, much less apologize, for statements like this:

Yes, Biden did say some of the right things. “The political rhetoric in this country has gotten very heated, it’s time to cool it down.” And “there is no place in America for this kind of violence. For any violence, ever. Period. No exceptions.”

And of course, Biden, being Biden, said some of the wrong things. “Battle box?” Really?

But did the president take personal responsibility for what happened? Did he take any responsibility as ultimate head of the agency that failed miserably to protect the area? No. All he did was say that he and Vice President Kamala Harris had been briefed on the situation, and the only responsibility he appeared to take was for directing agencies to do what needs to be done to investigate it going forward.

Se yes, it would be nice if we saw the political rhetoric dialed back to low in the wake of the shooting. It would also be a shock.

Secret Service Screw-Up: Were Resources Diverted from Protecting Trump to Protecting Jill Biden?

Susan Crabtree of RealClearInvestigations reports that Secret Service resources were diverted from protecting former President Trump to protecting Jill Biden, who was also doing an event in Pennsylvania on Saturday. She’s got two sources telling her resources were shifted to the First Lady following agency protocol involving a former president. First Ladies get first dibs. The problem, of course, as Crabtree points out, is that Donald Trump isn’t just the former president, he is the presumptive GOP nominee and the subject of enormous animus.  

Another lapse: NBC News reports that the Secret Service had already identified the building the would-be assassin used as a “security vulnerability” in the days leading up to Trump’s rally — which adds another layer of mystery to questions about why that roof was not secured. The building is in a large open space outside the official perimeter they would have secured — but eyewitnesses who couldn’t get into the rally who were standing near it saw the shooter walking up to the building with a rifle in hand and then bear-crawling forward to get into position, and tried to alert officials before he opened fire.

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Meanwhile, radio host and former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino has posted a detailed list of recommendations for how to reform the Secret Service.  It starts with requiring “mandatory monthly requalifications” applying equally to both male and female agents, and ends with eliminating all DEI efforts.

DEI-loving Secret Service Chief Kimberly Cheatle said Monday that she and her agency will cooperate with any investigations into Saturday’s security lapse. Cheatle was on Biden’s detail when he was vice president. Perhaps at her hearing, someone may want to ask her about the stories saying he deliberately paraded around naked in front of female agents assigned to protect him. 

While Much of the World Applauds Trump’s Reaction, CNN Commentator Is Bothered by It

And the media? You should take some of their temperatures, because some of them seem to be hallucinating. Shortly after the attack, CNN’s Jamie Gangel said Trump yelling “Fight! Fight! Fight!” after having a high-caliber bullet pierce part of his ear is “not the message that we want to be sending right now.”

Don Jr. called Gangel’s comment “vile.” Podcaster Megyn Kelly took Gangel to the woodshed.

 “The man was bleeding from a bullet wound to his head. [What] is wrong with you, Jamie Gangel? In any event it was the most inspirational ‘FIGHT’ many ppl have ever seen or heard. The fact that you heard it as you did shows how badly you’ve lost the thread.”

Meanwhile, MSNBC’s Morning Joe program was pulled today so the network could roll with continuous news coverage of the aftermath of the assassination attempt. That doesn’t sound too unreasonable. However, CNN reports what it says is the real reason the normally Trump-bashing show was pulled today.

A person familiar with the matter told CNN that the decision was made to avoid a scenario in which one of the show’s stable of two dozen-plus guests might make an inappropriate comment on live television that could be used to assail the program and network as a whole. 

RNC Gets Underway Under Cloud of Concern

The Republican National Convention started this afternoon in Milwaukee, and the official announcement concerning Trump’s running mate is close at hand. Will it be JD Vance? Doug Burnum? Marco Rubio? A surprise contender?

Unless Trump picks a stunner, the announcement will still be overshadowed by Saturday’s events.

Finally, A Sign of Divine Protection?

 

Al Perrotta is The Stream’s Washington bureau chief, coauthor with John Zmirak of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration, and coauthor of the counterterrorism memoir Hostile Intent: Protecting Yourself Against Terrorism.

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