FORT PIERCE, Fla. – Former President Donald Trump was in a Florida courtroom Thursday as his attorneys asked a judge to dismiss a federal criminal case related to his handling of the federal criminal case. confidential documents on the grounds that the Presidential Records Act barred his prosecution.
Trump’s legal team has argued that all or part of the charges should be dismissed under the 1978 law that governs data protection during and after the presidency.
Special counsel Jack Smith urged the judge overseeing the case to reject Trump’s claim that he should be protected from prosecution because classified presidential records could become “personal” records if removed from the White House. There is Trump he said he designated the materials he took to Mar-a-Lago while still in office as personal records. The personal records of the President are excluded from the requirements of the act.
US District Judge Eileen Cannon noted that no former president has faced criminal charges under the law. Jay Bratt of the special counsel’s office responded, “There has never been a situation like this.”
The parties also discussed a second motion to dismiss the case on the theory that the primary law used against Trump is unconstitutional and applies to presidents and cannot be used against him.
Cannon, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, asked the former president’s legal team to present their arguments on both motions first, followed by prosecutors from Smith’s office. He said he expected arguments to continue throughout the day. The first motion Trump’s lawyers filed was their “unconstitutional vagueness” arguments.
Trump’s lawyer, Emil Bove, told the judge that “the government cannot make decisions based on selective criteria and political bias” and that the indictment should be dismissed. He pointed to other cases in which presidents have been found to have withheld classified information, recalling the decision of special counsel Robert Huron. not filling President Joe Biden, according to classified material from his time in the Senate.
In his report explaining why he declined to indict Mr. Biden, Hur said there were “clear” differences between the two cases and that “the allegations in Mr. Trump’s indictment, if proven, would raise serious aggravating facts, unlike the evidence against Mr. Biden.”
Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges that he was unreasonably committed to classified information after he left the White House. One of Trump’s defendants, Walt Nauta, was present at the meeting, while the other, Carlos De Oliveira, was not present during the hearing. Trump’s lawyers indicated this in a court filing earlier this week both would be there.
Their lawyers initially argued with the government about the timing of the trial is planned It will start on May 20, but which Cannon will push back. Although the judge granted the defendant’s request for additional time, he did not set a new court date.
Trump He is charged with dozens of serious crimes in the indictment, including willful withholding of national defense information, false statements and representations, conspiracy to obstruct justice, concealment of a document or record, and corrupt concealment of a document. He denied all wrongdoing.
Trump also has defendants pleaded not guilty to related charges against them in the indictment. The special counsel indicted Nauta, who worked as an aide to Trump and continued to work for him after he left the White House. De Oliveira, Mar-a-Lago property manager, wanted to delete security footage at Mar-a-Lago after the Justice Department tried to obtain it. De Oliveira is also accused of lying to prosecutors.
Trump appeared in court more often in recent months and attended most of the writer’s trial E. Jean Carrolls second defamation case against him this year and it has been several months civil fraud trial A lawsuit was filed against him and his business late last year by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
In a court filing seeking more time to respond to other pending motions in the filing, Trump’s lawyers said they were preparing for trial. March 25 the start date of his New York criminal trial.
Trump’s lawyers are also wanted do not be late Courts until after the US Supreme Court rules on his claims of presidential immunity, as it could affect the outcome of the case.
Gary Grumbach and Alec Hernandez contributed.