If it were professionally allowed, Jack Smith’s response to the America First Legal amicus brief in Donald Trump’s Florida federal documents case should read as a very succinct, “LOL.” Former Trump White House staffer and balding Bantu Stephen Miller’s attempt to set up a far-right version of the ACLU, AFL made three distinct claims as to why the federal prosecution of Donald Trump for holding a multitude of classified documents without authorization is unconstitutional, and Smith’s team easily knocked down each one. It took the Special Counsel’s Office just five pages to dismantle the claims.
To summarize: AFL claims the National Archives didn’t have authority to make a criminal referral; a different version of the prior argument; and finally, because the National Archives doesn’t have the necessary statutory authority to make a criminal referral, all proceedings stemming from said referral are void.
And to summarize the Special Counsel’s response: Anyone can make a referral to the Justice Department if they believe a federal crime has been committed; no one needs any “statutory authority.” BUT if such fictional “statutory authority” was required within a federal agency, NARA’s Inspector General’s office would by its mission have the necessary authority to make such a referral. So there, pfffffffft.