Federal judge blocks attempt by Trump to dismiss classified-document charges

FORT PIERCE, Fla. (CN) — A federal judge on Thursday blocked an attempt by Donald Trump's legal team to dismiss his Mar-a-Lago classified documents case on the grounds of unconstitutional vagueness.

In a two-page order, U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon, a Trump appointee, said it would be premature to dismiss the case and that Trump's legal arguments would be better raised at trial.

At a court hearing earlier in the day, Trump’s defense attorneys had argued in favor of striking 32 counts linked to the Espionage Act from the former president’s indictment. They argued the Espionage Act was unconstitutionally vague and that Trump was immune from prosecution under the Presidential Records Act.

Even at the hearing, Cannon seemed skeptical. “I’m not seeing how any of that gets you to the dismissal of the indictment,” she told defense attorneys at one point.

Thursday’s hearing was the first to address a blizzard of motions filed by Trump and his codefendants, Carlos De Oliveira and Walt Nauta, in an effort to throw out the historic case.

Trump is accused of hoarding more than 100 classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. After a grand jury issued a subpoena seeking their return, he allegedly conspired with his employees, De Oliveira and Nauta, to hide the documents from officials.

All three men attended Thursday’s hearing at a federal courthouse in Fort Pierce. Supporters enthusiastically cheered for the presumed Republican presidential nominee as his motorcade sped into the building’s gated parking lot.

Trump appeared in the courtroom flanked by New York defense attorneys Emil Bove and Todd Blanche. Trump's team argued that charges brought against the former president under the Espionage Act should be stricken from the indictment because the law was too vague when applied to the president, who wields broad authority to declassify information.

The 1917 law prohibits the “unauthorized possession” of any materials relating to the national defense — but as president, they argued, Trump could declassify documents at will. Bove argued that was precisely what the president did before leaving the White House.

But statements Trump made in 2020 undercut that argument, prosecutors countered. They say Trump showed secret documents to a publisher and ghost writer at his golf club in New Jersey, all while acknowledging the documents remained classified.

The defense then argued Trump had authority under the Presidential Records Act to retain materials he determined were personal. Under the 1978 law, the president is required to send presidential records, along with materials related to his official duties, to the National Archives and Records Administration after leaving office.

Congress provided presidents wide latitude under the law to determine whether a record needed to be in archives, Bove said, and Trump had decided the materials he kept were personal.

David Harbach, a member of special counsel Jack Smith’s team, scoffed at the argument that classified documents detailing nuclear attack plans were personal to Trump.

“These are not personal records — period,” Harbach said. “The only inference, then, is these are presidential records.”

Harbach told Cannon that the one-term president may be able to raise the argument at trial but it was not a question that needed to be addressed at this hearing.

Thursday's hearing was the second held this month. Cannon also heard arguments last week on when to hold Trump's trial, which is currently scheduled for May 20. She has not issued a ruling on that matter.

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