In a ruling, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon denied former President Trump’s request to dismiss the case regarding classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago.
While Trump argued the Presidential Records Act took priority, Cannon rejected this and said the act does not provide grounds for dismissal.
Special Counsel Jack Smith had criticized one of Cannon’s requests as embracing Trump’s view of the act, but Cannon defended her request as an attempt to better understand the competing legal positions in this unprecedented case that will go to trial.
Smith has charged Trump with multiple counts relating to allegedly retaining and concealing classified records after leaving office.
Cannon noted that her request should not be “misconstrued as declaring a final definition on any essential element or asserted defense in this case.”
It was “a genuine attempt, in the context of the upcoming trial, to better understand the parties’ competing positions and the questions to be submitted to the jury in this complex case of first impression,” she said.
