A federal judge on Thursday denied former President Trump’s motion to dismiss the classified documents lawsuit, a decision that came on the heels of a hearing on various motions from the former president seeking to dismiss the lawsuit. .
Judge Eileen Cannon’s decision came during a three-hour hearing Thursday where she expressed skepticism that Trump’s lawsuit could be dismissed for “unconstitutional vagueness.” It was later given down.
Trump’s lawyers have filed nine separate motions to dismiss the lawsuit, with one filing in February arguing that the law is unclear as it applies to Trump.
President Trump’s lawyer, Emil Bove, singled out President Biden for saying the bill’s ambiguity would allow the Justice Department to carry out so-called “selective” enforcement, allowing Trump to be prosecuted but others to avoid prosecution. said.
“The court’s duty is to break the statute and say, ‘Congress, do it right,'” Bove told Cannon.
Jay Blatt, a prosecutor on Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team, challenged the statute as unclear.
The judge told Trump’s lawyers that striking down the statute sought by the defense would be a “highly unusual step.” But she also pointedly pointed out to prosecutors that no former president has been indicted for mishandling classified documents.
Blatt responded that he had not encountered any other situation “almost like this.”
Cannon considered only two of Trump’s nine motions Thursday and did not immediately rule on another issue: whether the case can be thrown out under the Presidential Records Act.
President Trump has claimed that more than 300 classified records recovered from his Mar-a-Lago, Florida, mansion could be considered personal records rather than presidential records.
Cannon also expressed skepticism, noting that Trump’s claims are disputed and therefore not a good basis for dropping the charges.
Enacted in 1978, this law requires that when a president leaves office, presidential records be transferred to the U.S. government, specifically the National Archives and Records Administration, for management, but not entirely personal diaries or notes. Retention of personal records, including personal records, is permitted. And they are not ready for government business.
The Associated Press contributed.
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