Judge rejects Trump bid in documents case
FORT PIERCE, Fla. — A federal judge on Thursday rejected a bid by Donald Trump to throw out out his classified documents criminal case, and appeared skeptical during hours of arguments of a separate effort to scuttle the prosecution ahead of trial.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon issued a twopage order saying that though the Trump team had raised “various arguments warranting serious consideration,” a dismissal of charges was not merited.
Judge Cannon, who was nominated to the bench by Mr. Trump, had made clear during more than 3½ hours of arguments that she was reluctant to dismiss one of the four criminal cases against the 2024 presumptive Republican presidential nominee. She said at one point that it would be “quite an extraordinary” step to strike down an Espionage Act statute that underpins the bulk of the felony counts against Mr. Trump but that his lawyers contend is unconstitutionally vague.
As Mr. Trump looked on in the courtroom, his attorneys pressed Judge Cannon to throw out the case, arguing he was legally entitled to keep the sensitive records he is charged with illegally retaining after he left the White House.
His lawyers say the Presidential Records Act gave him the authority to designate as personal property the records he took with him to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Prosecutors countered that those records were clearly presidential, not personal, and included top-secret information and documents related to nuclear programs and the military capabilities of the U.S. and foreign countries.
Judge Cannon’s ruling covered only the Espionage Act arguments. A separate motion argued Thursday about whether Mr. Trump was entitled under the Presidential Records Act to retain the documents remains pending, but the judge also seemed disinclined to throw out the case on those grounds too.
“It’s difficult to see how this gets you to the dismissal of an indictment,” she told a Trump lawyer at one point.
The hearing was the second this month in the case in Florida, which has unfolded slowly in the courts since prosecutors first brought charges last June. Judge Cannon heard arguments on March 1 on when to schedule a trial date, but has yet to announce one and gave no indication Thursday on when she might do so. Prosecutors have pressed the judge to set a date for this summer. Mr. Trump’s lawyers are hoping to put it off until after the election.
After the hearing, Mr. Trump on his Truth Social platform took note of the “big crowds” outside the courthouse, which included supporters with flags and signs who honked their car horns in solidarity with the ex-president. He again said the prosecution is a “witch hunt” inspired by President Joe Biden.
Some of Thursday’s arguments centered on the 1978 statute known as the Presidential Records Act. The law requires presidential documents to be turned over to the National Archives and Records Administration, though former presidents may retain notes and papers created for purely personal reasons.
Mr. Trump’s lawyers contend that he was free under that law to to do with the records as he pleased.
“He had original classification authority,” said defense lawyer Todd Blanche. “He had the authority to do whatever he thought was appropriate with his records.”
But prosecutor David Harbach told Judge Cannon that there are “all sorts of reasons” that that argument is wrong. Prosecutors believe the files Trump is charged with possessing are presidential records, not personal ones, and that the statute was never meant to permit presidents to retain classified and top-secret documents, like those kept at Mar-a-Lago.
“The documents charged in the indictment are not personal records, period. They are not,” Mr. Harbach said. “They are nowhere close to it under the definition of the Presidential Records Act.”