Donald Trump loses bid to dismiss classified documents case
A judge has rejected the former president’s defence that he claims allowed him to hoard confidential papers.
Donald Trump’s bid to dismiss charges that he mishandled classified documents after leaving the White House has been rejected.
District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, denied the former president’s motion, but left open the possibility the issue could be raised again at trial.
“The Presidential Records Act does not provide a pre-trial basis to dismiss,” Mr Cannon said in a brief order.
Mr Trump, 77, pleaded not guilty in June to federal charges of unlawfully retaining national defence information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements.
He kept the classified files – which included records from the Pentagon, CIA and National Security Agency – unsecured at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida and thwarted official efforts to retrieve them, according to the indictment.
Special counsel Jack Smith, who brought the charges against Mr Trump, had threatened to take the case to an appeals court after Mr Cannon indicated that the Presidential Records Act has merit in the case.
The judge had asked for each side to propose jury instructions that would be based on a reading of the act.
While handing Mr Smith a partial victory in refusing to toss the case based on the Presidential Records Act, Mr Cannon defended her request for draft jury instructions saying it “should not be misconstrued.”
“Nor should it be interpreted as anything other than what it was: a genuine attempt, in the context of the upcoming trial, to better understand the parties’ competing positions,” she said.
Prosecutors have proposed a July 8 start for the trial, but Mr Cannon has not yet set a date and is yet to rule on a number of other motions brought by Mr Trump’s lawyers.
Mr Trump also faces federal charges and an indictment in Georgia for allegedly conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden.
The judge presiding over the Georgia case rejected a motion by Mr Trump on Thursday seeking to have it dismissed on the grounds it violated his free speech rights.
Mr Trump’s lawyers have sought to delay his various cases until after the November presidential election, when he could potentially have the federal charges against him dropped if he wins.
TRUMP DEALT A BLOW IN PORN STAR HUSH MONEY CASE
Donald Trump’s bid to delay his upcoming trial on charges relating to hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels has been denied by a New York judge.
Mr Trump was seeking his April 15 trial to be delayed until the US Supreme Court reviewed his case, set for April 25, where he will be claiming presidential immunity from federal prosecution for trying to overturn the 2020 election.
His lawyers argued back in March that result of the review was relevant because prosecutors were seeking to present evidence of statements Mr Trump made during his time as president from 2017 to 2021.
On Wednesday (local time), New York judge Juan Merchan denied his bid to delay on the grounds that Mr Trump had waited too long to raise the issue.
“Defendant had myriad opportunities to raise the claim of presidential immunity well before March 7, 2024,” Justice Merchan wrote.
Mr Trump has pleaded not guilty to the four criminal charges he faces.
The New York case could be the only one to go to trial before this year’s US presidential election, where he will take on Joe Biden again.
Mr Trump is accused of falsifying business records to cover up his former lawyer Michael Cohen’s $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels for her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she says she had with Trump in 2006. He denies the accusations.
The former president has also sought a delay based on news coverage that may have the potential for jurors to believe he is already guilty.
Justice Merchan is yet to rule on that but prosecutors have opposed the request in a court filing made public on Wednesday, arguing Mr Trump had generated much of the news coverage himself and they would weed out with biased jurors in the jury selection process.
BARON TOWERS OVER MELANIA AS TRUMP POSTS $269M BOND
Donald Trump’s son Barron towered over his mother in a rare sighting during Easter festivities at Mar-a-Lago.
Video footage shows the 200cm tall teenager arriving at the Florida resort for Easter brunch with a smiling Melania and her father, Victor Knavs.
Barron, 18, wore a classic navy two-piece suit and yellow tie, while Melania, 53, looked stunning in a white V-neck dress and pumps.
The mother-duo have been absent from the campaign trail as Mr Trump makes another bid for the White House in November.
Other family members in attendance were the former US president’s sons, Donald Jr. and Eric with wife Lara and their children.
Lara shared video of Mr Trump playing with her children and wearing a yellow ‘Make America Great Again’ cap.
She captioned the video: “When Grandpa wears the Easter MAGA” next to an emoji wearing sunglasses and a yellow heart.
Earlier Mr Trump posted a lengthy Easter message to his Truth Social Media account in caps taking aim at “THE CROOKED AND CORRUPT PROSECUTORS AND JUDGES THAT ARE DOING EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO INTERFERE WITH THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 20245 AND PUT ME IN PRISON”.
TRUMP POSTS $US175M BOND IN CIVIL FRAUD CASE
Donald Trump posted a $US175 million ($A269 million) bond in his New York civil fraud case, avoiding payment of a $US454 million penalty while his case winds through the appeals process.
Mr Trump last month temporarily avoided a cash crisis that could have seen his prized properties seized by authorities, with an appeals court handing him the lifeline.
A bond for the huge financial penalty – ordered after Mr Trump lost a civil fraud case for falsely inflating the value of his real estate empire – was due on April 1.
But Mr Trump, who is challenging the decision, was granted a reprieve by an appeals court which cut the bond to $US175m ($A267m) and gave him another 10 days to find the money.
The lifeline came through as he faced a separate hearing in New York to determine the timeline for his first criminal trial over hush money paid to a porn star to silence her claims of an affair.
The bombshell trial – in one of four criminal cases spanning an unprecedented 91 charges against the former president – has now been scheduled for April 15.
Mr Trump had earlier raged that the civil fraud fine was imposed by a “corrupt” New York judge, and that he should not be forced to sell his “babies” because he “did nothing wrong”.
“I had intended to use much of that hard earned money on running for President,” Mr Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
“They don’t want me to do that – ELECTION INTERFERENCE!”
New York Attorney-General Letitia James, who brought the case against the former president, had already given him a 30-day grace period on enforcing the judgement.
That helped stave off a financial disaster for Mr Trump – who is the presumptive Republican candidate to take on US President Joe Biden in an election rematch this November – but he said he was unable to find an insurance company to cover the bond.
Ms James had been preparing to seize his marquee assets including a private estate and golf club in Westchester County and his 40 Wall Street skyscraper in Manhattan.
“If he does not have funds to pay off the judgement, then we will seek judgement enforcement mechanisms in court, and we will ask the judge to seize his assets,” she said last month.
In a series of furious fundraising emails sent recently to supporters, Mr Trump said that “maniacs want to seize Trump Tower” – which includes the apartment where he used to live in New York City – but that it would “never be captured”.
After the reprieve, he said he could cover the $US175m order, as he continued to argue that the total fine was “ridiculous and outrageous”.
Under the civil fraud ruling, Mr Trump was also hit with a three-year ban from running the real estate empire that made him a celebrity and propelled him to the presidency.
An independent monitor was installed to prevent any further fraud at his company, with his sons also prevented from operating any businesses in New York for two years.
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Originally published as Donald Trump loses bid to dismiss classified documents case
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