Washington — The federal judge overseeing special counsel Jack Smith case of classified documents against Donald Trump again rejected requests by the former president's legal team to dismiss the charges against him, according to an order filed Monday evening.
Judge Aileen Cannon denied numerous claims by defense lawyers for Trump and his co-defendants that the 2023 indictment was technically flawed, but criticized prosecutors' description of one incident as unnecessary to the charges and agreed to cut a single paragraph of the charging document because it said it “. improperly contained allegations of uncharged offense.”
Smith indicted Trump on 40 counts including unlawfully withholding national defense information after investigators recovered hundreds of classified documents from his time in the White House at his Florida estate. The former president and his co-accused… assistant Walta Nauta and former employee of Mar-a-Lago Carlos de Oliveira — They are also accused of participating in an alleged scheme to obstruct the federal investigation.
All three have pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.
Smith's office declined to comment on the recent ruling. Representatives for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Trump, Nauta and de Oliveira made numerous arguments in court in their bid to have the charges dismissed before going to trial, including that several alleged crimes were listed under a single charge and that prosecutors failed to prove that Nauta and de Oliveria they knew there were secret documents. the boxes are accused of moving. The defense also claimed that the way the charges were written was technically insufficient.
Cannon rejected those claims because he said the language in the indictment was legally permissible. In some circumstances, he wrote, the issues could be raised by the defense at trial.
Although an almost total victory for Smith, the judge's ruling also criticized the style of the special counsel's indictment as containing “nonessential allegations more akin to a narrative about the government's prosecution theory.” Cannon wrote the “oral indictment” — a term used to describe a descriptive charging document — contained allegations and language against Trump that were “legally unnecessary” to the underlying charges.
Despite the criticism, he ruled that almost all of the 60-page indictment would stand, except for a single paragraph in which prosecutors described a time in 2021 when Trump allegedly showed a person who did not have a security clearance a classified map of a foreign nation. .
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The judge wrote that the paragraph was unnecessary and would be removed from the indictment since Trump is not accused of showing anyone else classified records. However, it left open the possibility that the alleged conduct could be included in any trial after proper litigation.
His decision was in line with comments he made in previous court hearings in which he specifically called the incriminating documents against Trump an “oral indictment” and noted their length.
Cannon's order Monday also mirrored others issued in recent months in which he rejected Trump's legal arguments but wrote critically of the special counsel and his prosecutors.
In April, he agreed with Smith that the names of potential witnesses should they remain drafted in publicly presented documents, but he chided prosecutors for not making that particular argument sooner. Last month, Cannon criticized Smith's team for failing to consult with the defense and described them as “completely lacking in substance and professional courtesy” when she they rejected his request to limit Trump's speech on the application of the law in the case. Cannon, however, allowed the special counsel to resubmit her request, and she is still considering it.
A trial date for the case has not yet been set, as the judge said she is working on other pre-trial matters. Cannon previously rejected other arguments made by Trump that the charges should be dropped and has set public hearings on various motions throughout the summer months.
Smith also indicted Trump in Washington, DC, on four federal counts alleging that he worked to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election. The former president pleaded not guilty to those charges and the case is currently on hold , as the Supreme Court considers his claims for presidential immunity from prosecution.
