Will he speak?
Will he make a vehement speech against the political exploitation of American justice to block his path to electoral success?
Donald Trump is expected to be in the courtroom this Thursday to support his lawyers' request to dismiss the case involving classified documents found at his personal residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, a case that had led to the first search in the history of the United States at the home of a former president, and which must be judged, in principle, from May 20.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon scheduled the hearing in Fort Pierce, an hour's drive from Mar-a-Lago, to consider two of Trump's motions.
His lawyers denounce the work of special counsel Jack Smith, whom Trump has sometimes called "thug", "deranged", "hateful", and they are determined to apply an exception to any action of the president, refuting that the law on the presidential records applies to the 184 classified documents, including 25 marked “TOP SECRET,” the highest level of confidentiality in the country, which were found during a search of Trump's home in August 2022.
Rules established after the Watergate Scandal
The Presidential Records Act was passed in 1978, having its origins at another time in history when an American president faced criminal charges.
It was passed in the years following the Watergate scandal – when lawmakers feared that President Richard Nixon would destroy records after he resigned in 1974 over the spying scandal at Democratic Party headquarters.
Since the Presidential Records Act (PRA), all records of presidents and vice presidents created or received after January 20, 1981 - the Reagan administration - are considered property of the United States and must be turned over to a special agency that manages and preserves the documents, the Federal Archives Agency.
The law was amended in 2014 to respond to modernization of technologies.
Tweets from the president and vice president, for example, are also archived and cannot be deleted.
Trump's lawyers say the law gave Trump the authority to designate which records fell under the Presidential Records Act, making it legal to keep whatever records he wanted at his Florida estate.
VIDEO.
“They even broke into my safe!”
»: Donald Trump's house raided by the FBI
In August 2022, after several requests from the Federal Archives, which suspected Trump of having, when he was no longer president, secret documents in his possession, the FBI carried out a search of his Florida residence, and took more than 11,000 documents.
Among the photos, little words, "A" of magazines dedicated to Trump were 18 documents classified "top secret", more than 50 "secret" and 31 "confidential".
Including a document about a foreign country's nuclear weapons, others about informants who often work with the CIA, or undercover spies, and some so sensitive that the sender must approve anyone with access to them.
Some of these files should never have even left the White House.
“Mr. Trump's claims are based on three fundamental errors, all of which reflect his view that, as a former president, the nation's laws and principles of accountability that govern all other citizens do not apply not his,” replied Jack Smith in writing.
And “even if all of the highly classified documents that Trump took from the White House to Mar-a-Lago were somehow classified as
personal
under the PRA, that would not make the retention of these documents
authorized
.
There is no indication that Judge Cannon will address, during this long day of hearing, the date of the trial, which Trump wants to move after the presidential election.
His legal agenda is already well stocked for the coming weeks: the Republican candidate must be tried criminally in New York on March 25 for falsification of commercial records in connection with the money paid to actress Stormy Daniels to conceal an adulterous relationship before the 2016 elections. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Procedure in Georgia slightly reduced
On the other hand, Trump obtained a small victory Wednesday in the criminal proceedings launched against him in Georgia, the state where he is accused of interference to derail the 2020 presidential election. A Fulton County judge dismissed three counts of accusation against the former president related to the phone call he made on January 2, 2021 to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
On January 3, 2021, the Washington Post revealed the recording of this nearly 60-minute conservation, during which Trump tried to convince Brad Raffensperger, in vain, to invalidate votes to reverse the results of the election in the state.
“I just want to find 11,780 votes,” Trump said, surrounded by numerous collaborators and lawyers.
The ruling leaves Trump still facing 10 charges in Georgia he pleaded not guilty to last August.
Four of Trump's 18 co-defendants reached plea deals in exchange for their testimony in the case.
While he touched on the element that sparked the investigation, Judge McAfee gave the Fulton County District Attorney's Office six months to refile the legally better-qualified charges.
This delay currently allows the procedure to take place before the presidential election, scheduled for November 5.