Mar-a-Lago Papers Judge Rejects Trump Request to Shelve Case

Donald Trump went this Thursday to the court in Fort Pierce (Florida) where the case of the classified papers that the FBI found in the search of his Mar-a-Lago mansion, in Palm Beach, also in Florida, is being followed.

The former president's lawyers have filed several motions to dismiss the 40 charges against him.

However, hours after the hearing, federal judge Aileen Cannon issued a two-page order in which she rejected Trump's request to archive the case on constitutional grounds.

Trump requested the dismissal of the first 32 charges, all of them for the retention of secrets related to national defense.

The former president's lawyers alleged that some expressions of the article of the applicable law – 793 (e) of volume 18 of the

US Code

(USC) – such as “unauthorized possession”, “in relation to national defense” and “with the right to receive” are unconstitutional due to their vagueness when applied to the facts of the case and would therefore violate due process and the rule of leniency.

That article was introduced into US legislation through the Espionage Act.

If those charges had been dismissed, the rest would also be left out, as they were instrumental, such as obstruction of justice.

Although the judge says that “the motion raises several arguments that deserve serious consideration,” she refuses to dismiss the accusations and leaves the matter to be returned to in the future.

Judge Cannon, appointed by Trump himself, thus makes a decision against the president for the first time.

On previous occasions she had agreed to defense requests that favored Trump and that had to be corrected by higher courts, giving an appearance of bias that worried prosecutors.

The judge has not yet ruled on another motion filed Thursday by the defense that alleged that Trump was authorized under the Presidential Records Act to retain the documents after leaving the White House, as he would have classified them as personal property.

The judge, however, has appeared little inclined to dismiss the case for those reasons.

“It is difficult to see how this leads to the dismissal of an accusation,” she said during the session to a Trump lawyer, according to AP, present at the hearing, which was not broadcast.

Cannon has implied that it would be up to the jury to establish at the time whether those documents, many of them with top secret classification marks, can be considered his private property.

A supporter of Donald Trump, this Thursday before the federal court in Fort Pierce (Florida). Marco Bello (REUTERS)

The former president has also argued that he should be immune from accusations that he illegally withheld national security documents because they stem from decisions he made in his final weeks as president.

Trump has already claimed immunity in the Washington case, in which he is accused of his attempts to rig the result of the 2020 elections, which he lost against Joe Biden.

Although both the judge handling the case and the Court of Appeals rejected his request, Trump appealed to the Supreme Court, which has set the hearing for April 22 to hear the oral arguments of both parties.

Special prosecutor Jack Smith is handling both the Washington and Florida cases.

No new trial date

Prosecutors filed charges against Trump in June last year, but the prosecution of the case has been very slow since then.

The judge initially set the start date of the trial as May 20, but nothing indicates that this calendar will be met.

In another hearing held on March 1, the parties presented their arguments on when to set a new date for the trial, but the judge has not yet done so nor has she given clues this Thursday as to what her intentions are.

Trump's lawyers want the oral trial to be delayed until after the elections on November 5.

In part, that would prevent him from sitting in the dock—and eventually being convicted—in the midst of the presidential campaign.

But in addition, that would allow Trump, if elected, to give orders for the accusations to be dropped or even to pardon himself.

The prosecutors would agree that it would be held in the summer.

Trump and his lawyers insist without evidence that the accusations against the former president are a case of political persecution ordered by the president of the United States, Joe Biden, his rival in the November presidential elections.

They also denounce an alleged double standard in the application of the law, after another prosecutor has decided not to file charges against Biden for the papers he had in his possession from the time he was a senator and vice president, despite the enormous differences between both cases.

Some Trump supporters and detractors have gathered outside the courthouse.

“Large crowds in Fort Pierce, Florida, for Biden-induced Witch Hunt against his political opponent, ME!

Thank you, a great honor to have you there.

Such a thing has never happened in our country before - Strictly Third World.

BUT, WE WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! ”He has written on his network, Truth Social.

In parallel, prosecutors in the criminal case against Trump in New York have asked to delay the trial against the president for up to a month, initially scheduled for March 25.

In that case, Trump is accused of commercial falsehoods in payments to three people to hide scandals in the 2016 presidential campaign (including porn actress Stormy Daniels, to silence an alleged extramarital affair).

Following the dismissal of three charges in the Georgia election fraud case, Trump is charged with 88 charges in four criminal cases.

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