District JUDGE Aileen Cannon issued a two-page order responding to a request by former United States (US) president Donald Trump. He emphasized that dropping the charges against Trump was inappropriate.
Cannon, who was nominated by Trump, explained for more than 3.5 hours his argument. He was reluctant to dismiss any of the four criminal cases against the Republican presidential nominee.
He has said that it would be an extraordinary step to repeal the Espionage Act that underlies most of the criminal charges against Trump.
As Trump watched in the courtroom, his attorneys urged Cannon to drop the case, arguing Trump had a right to keep sensitive records.
Trump’s lawyers argue the Presidential Records Act gives him the authority to designate records taken to Mar-a-Lago in Florida as personal property.
Prosecutors countered that the records clearly belonged to the president, were not his personal property, and included classified information and documents related to the nuclear program and military capabilities of the US and foreign countries.
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Cannon’s decision only covers the Espionage Act arguments. A separate motion filed regarding Trump’s right under the Presidential Records Act to retain those documents is still pending. However, the judge was also reluctant to dismiss the case.
“It’s hard to see how this could lead to dismissal of the indictment,” Cannon told Trump’s lawyers.
The hearing was the second this month in a Trump case in Florida since prosecutors first filed charges in June. Prosecutors have urged the judge to set a date this summer but Trump’s lawyers hope it will be after the election.
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After the trial, Trump, via his social media, Truth Social, admitted that he noticed support for him. Support emerged outside the courthouse with some supporters carrying US flags and others honking car horns.
He also said the prosecution of this case was a witch hunt inspired by President Joe Biden. Some of the arguments used by prosecutors and judges in this case rely on a 1978 law known as the Presidential Records Act.
Trump’s lawyers argue that under the law, Trump is free to handle the records as he pleases.
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“He has genuine classification authority. He has the authority to do whatever he sees fit on his record,” said Trump defense attorney Todd Blanche.
However, prosecutor David Harbach presented to Cannon the reasons that the argument was false. He believes that the documents Trump has are presidential records, not personal records.
Trump’s lawyers are challenging a law that deems the unauthorized retention of national defense information too vague, a charge that forms the basis of 32 of the 40 felony charges against Trump in the case.
Trump is accused of intentionally storing some of his most sensitive documents at Mar-a-Lago and only returning a small portion of them at the request of the National Archives.
Trump was separately charged in a federal case in Washington with conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. (France24/Z-1)
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