Lauren Tomasi: Channel 9 US correspondent on Donald Trump's classified documents case being dismissed

A US judge appointed by Donald Trump has dismissed charges against the former President, accusing him of illegally keeping classified documents when he left office.

Judge Aileen Cannon ruled lead prosecutor Special Counsel Jack Smith was unlawfully appointed - and didn't have the authority to bring the case.

Channel Nine US Correspondent Lauren Tomasi says such a ruling initially seemed far-fetched.

"It was a bit of a longshot that his legal team had put in, thinking it would never come to fruition."

Trump's posted on Truth Social, saying he's very pleased about the outcome.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
The only drive show you can trust to ask the questions,
get the answers by the facts, and give the analysis.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Jack aime On, hither DUP to c Ellen Drive with
One New Zealand let's get connected News Talk z B.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
Donald Trump has been officially nominated as the Republican presidential
candidate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Today. Trump has also enlisted Ohio
Senator JD Vance as his vice presidential pick. And it
didn't stop there for Trump, with Judge Eileen Cannon also
dismissing his Marra a Lago classified documents case. Today. Lauren

(00:36):
Tomazi is Channel nine's US correspondent and is with us now.
Good evening, Good evening to you, Jack. So what has
the reaction been to Donald Trump's appearance at the RNC.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Look, It has been quite remarkable. The eruption of cheers
that you had from the Republican Party faithful here in
Milwaukee was really quite insane. It was been hours that
people were waiting here hoping to see Donald Trump, forty
eight hours on from that assassination attempt, and the former
president walked out with a bandage on his ear, slowly

(01:07):
stepping into the Republican National Convention arena and there were
just thousands of people here cheering him on.

Speaker 3 (01:14):
He didn't say anything.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
He just put his fist in the air show of
defiance after that assassination attempt. It was truly quite remarkable
to see.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
So talk to us a little bit about JD. Vance
because in the past he has been openly critical of
Donald Trump. He called him famously America's hitler. So how
has this one hundred and eighty degree flip flop happened?

Speaker 3 (01:36):
It's truly quite remarkable. JD.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
Vance was a really intense critic of Donald Trump and
really kind of switched gears when he went for a
run for the Senate in twenty twenty two.

Speaker 3 (01:46):
JD.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
Vans has only been in the Senate for a couple
of years now, but he changed his narrative and began
getting on board.

Speaker 3 (01:53):
I guess with that NAGA movement.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
You started hearing him talk about the MAGA policies and
Donald Trump about the stolen election, which of course we
know was not the case. And Donald Trump embraced him,
he endorsed him for the Senate, and now here we
are two years on. JD. Vance on the Republican Party
ticket as the vice presidential nominee. Now, for those people

(02:16):
at home who are like, who is this guy? You
may have actually read his book. He wrote a bestseller,
Hill Billy Ellogy, and that was adapted into a Netflix
series which is really quite popular.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
Yeah, it's just what an amazing life for a guy
who's not even yet forty to now find himself as
potentially the favorite to be the next vice president of
the United States. Have we heard anything in terms of
polling over the last couple of days following the extraordinary
events in Pennsylvania.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
Look, this is going to be so interesting to see.
We haven't had a poll come out yet since that
attempted assassination, but the polls within the last week again
show Donald Trump taking a bit of a lead over
Joe Biden. That's kind of been the nature of these polls.
We're seeing a bit of a growing divide, Donald Trump
gaining more and more momentum. I expect that you'll see

(03:04):
much of the same when we get the next round
of polls. In the wake of that attempted assassination. And
also today, Donald Trump had a huge court win. He
had his classified documents case tossed out by a judge
in Florida.

Speaker 3 (03:16):
There has been a lot going on for the former president.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yeah, yeah, it's remarkable. How has he reacted to that.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
He took to True Social this morning to post he's
certainly very pleased with that. It was a bit of
a long shot appeal that his legal team had put in,
never thinking that it would.

Speaker 3 (03:32):
Come to fruition. But then, of course we had.

Speaker 2 (03:34):
The Supreme Court ruling on immunity for Donald Trump, and
one of the justices, Clarence Thomas, very much caved the
way wrote in the arguments there the case for the
judge in Florida, Aileen Cannon, to make this ruling.

Speaker 3 (03:50):
And so that is what has happened.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
The case has been tossed down and it now places
in jeopardy the other case, which is Jack Smith prosecuting
the January sixth election interference.

Speaker 3 (04:00):
So very well, you could.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
See quite a number of these court cases of Donald
Trump's topple over.

Speaker 1 (04:05):
These big political conventions are full of drama, but they
like to drip feed it, right, So we see Trump
and jd vance today. Then we have a series of
speeches in the coming days. When are we actually likely
to hear Donald Trump's presentation.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
Thursday is the big day for Donald Trump, And as
I stand here in the Republican National Convention right now,
I can see balloons are all in netting above the ceiling,
and that's the day you'll have that really big speech. Now,
Donald Trump has said that he said he had a
humdinger of a speech as it was, but he's actually
changed it all around in the wake of that shooting,

(04:40):
an attemptive assassination on the weekend. So it'll be interesting
to see what the former president has to say because
he's moving forward with this bit of a show of unity.
So it will certainly what we have to hear from him.
How long this goes for, it's going to be interesting
to watch.

Speaker 1 (04:56):
Thanks for your time, Lauren, We appreciate it that as
Lauren Tamazi, who is nine's US correspondent. For more from
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