On Thursday, Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed another request by former President Donald Trump (R) asking to throw out his classified documents case.
Much of the noise surrounding the case has centered on if Trump has the ability to use the Presidential Records Act (PRA) to defend himself in the upcoming case. Trump argues that the PRA gave him jurisdiction to choose which of the documents were his personal records and which were not.
Cannon has not expressed her views on the former president's ability to invoke the act. Nevertheless, she ruled that his prosecutors made no reference to the PRA.
Special counsel Jack Smith has been pushing for the judge to rule on if Trump can use the act, but Cannon stated that the calls to rule on the usage of the PRA were “unprecedented and unjust.” If she were to rule that the PRA could be used, then Smith could appeal to Florida's 11th Circuit.
Trump recently referred to Smith as “deranged” and having a “history of failure”. The former president’s gripe with the special counsel stems from his desire to have the Trump-appointed judge, Cannon, removed from the case.
The former president has been charged with 37 counts, 31 of which he is accused of making false statements, conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record, corruptly concealing a document and willful retention of national defense information.
Smith found issues with the judge’s recent jury instructions which he stated “rest on an unstated and fundamentally flawed legal premise” and that “the question of whether the PRA [Presidential Records Act] has an impact on the element of unauthorized possession under Section 793(e) does not turn on any evidentiary issue, and it cannot be deferred. It is purely a question of law that must be decided promptly.”
Smith continued, “If the Court were to defer a decision on that fundamental legal question it would inject substantial delay into the trial and, worse, prevent the Government from seeking review before jeopardy attaches.”
