(WILMINGTON, Del.) — The federal judge overseeing the case of the former FBI informant charged with lying about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden’s overseas business ties has rejected an effort to challenge the legitimacy of special counsel David Weiss’ appointment, according to court records.
The challenge from Alexander Smirnov’s attorneys was filed just hours after Judge Aileen Cannon unexpectedly dismissed former President Donald Trump’s classified documents case last month on the grounds that special counsel Jack Smith was unlawfully appointed — which is currently being appealed.
Judge Otis Wright’s ruling in the Smirnov case is yet another indication of how Cannon’s controversial dismissal of Trump’s classified documents case – which ran contrary to decades of precedent set by other courts — is not holding water with other judges weighing similar challenges to special counsels.
A separate judge overseeing Hunter Biden’s tax case in Los Angeles rejected a similar challenge to Weiss’ appointment earlier this month.
Cannon’s ruling centered around arguments that Smith’s prosecution of Trump was illegitimate because, in her determination, Smith was unlawfully appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to his position as special counsel because he was never confirmed to his post by the U.S. Senate.
Special counsels have typically served previously as U.S. attorneys, who are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Smith was previously the acting U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee and was working for the International Criminal Court at the Hague prosecuting war crimes when he was tapped by Garland in November 2022 to lead both the classified documents probe and the federal election interference investigation.
Smith, in a filing on Monday, urged the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse Cannon’s decision.
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