Washington — Lawyers for former President Donald Trump are trying to persuade a federal judge in Florida on Thursday to dismiss special counsel Jack Smith's classified documents lawsuit against him.
Judge Eileen Cannon is scheduled to hear arguments on two motions filed by Mr. Trump, one alleging that the former president is protected from prosecution by federal records management laws and the other claiming that the former president is protected from prosecution by federal records management laws. One of the claims is that it raises a number of unresolved legal issues.
This is the second hearing in recent weeks in which prosecutors from Mr. Trump's team and Mr. Smith's office face off in Mr. Cannon's courtroom.
Smith charged Trump with 32 counts of unlawfully retaining classified government records after allegedly removing documents from the White House during the presidential transition. The former president and two of his aides have also been charged with involvement in a plot to obstruct the investigation. All three have maintained their innocence and deny wrongdoing.
One of several motions to dismiss filed late last month, the lawsuit states that Trump has “unreviewable discretion” as president to make any document personal in nature. He argued that it should be scrapped. His lawyers say the Presidential Records Act “[d] Judicial Review'' into his record keeping.
“For example, President Trump was still President of the United States when many of the documents at issue were packaged, transported (presumably by the GSA), and delivered to Mar-a-Lago,” Trump's team wrote in the filing. argued in writing. They said past precedent should have prevented prosecutors from launching a criminal investigation in the first place, which would disqualify the obstruction charge he faces.
This argument is “false,” the special counsel said in his filing, saying that the classified government records allegedly illegally kept by President Trump “indisputably belong to the president and are private.” “and therefore belong to the government,'' he told Cannon.
After leaving office, prosecutors said, “Mr. the authorities wrote.
“The PRA does not grant Mr. Trump immunity from criminal law, unilaterally declare the president's highly classified records personal records, or shield him from criminal investigation, much less obstruct a federal investigation with impunity. I don't condone that.”
Mr. Trump has long argued that he had the right to keep the records because he had federal classification authority during his presidency, but prosecutors say the federal government, from archivists to investigators, has not recovered the records. He claimed to have spent a year working to do so. Missing documents.
In January 2022, President Trump returned 15 boxes of documents, including documents marked classified. The grand jury later issued subpoenas to obtain several more records, investigators said. The FBI then executed a court-authorized search warrant at President Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort and discovered hundreds of classified records stored in an unsafe location.
“The Office of the Special Counsel cannot escape the written promise of the PRA's discretion and authority over President Trump,” Trump's lawyers argued in a response Wednesday.
The second motion scheduled to be debated Thursday is based on President Trump's assertion that there are numerous unresolved legal questions regarding the law known as the Espionage Act, which he is known to have violated. Trump's lawyers argue that the unresolved legal issues amount to unconstitutional vagueness.
Mr. Smith also disputed this claim, writing in court documents, “Mr. Trump's vague arguments are baseless. Mr. Trump has been indicted on charges of unauthorized possession and willful retention of national defense information.The statute's prohibitions are clear.'' ” he wrote.
President Trump and his co-defendants in the documents case are seeking a hearing on other motions to dismiss filed last month, including claims of retaliation and presidential immunity. Mr. Smith has opposed all of these motions and the issue of presidential immunity. The latter issue is expected to be considered by the Supreme Court next month in a separate case related to Smith's 2020 election-related accusations against Trump in Washington, D.C.
The criminal case will be suspended until the High Court makes its decision.
Prosecutors said Trump's team was simply trying to delay the trial in Florida and argued that criminal proceedings should begin in July. Judge Cannon held a hearing on March 1 regarding the trial date, but he has not yet issued a ruling. Defense attorneys argued that a fair trial would not be possible before the 2024 presidential election, but suggested an August or September date if the judge decided the trial should proceed.
Thursday's hearing comes a day after a Georgia county judge dismissed three charges against Trump as part of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' 2020 election interference case. The former president still faces other charges in the case. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Earlier this week, Cannon granted Trump's request for a 10-day extension to submit additional documents related to other motions to dismiss the lawsuit.
