Trump Files Motion To Toss Florida Indictment

Trump’s motion cites special counsel Robert Hur’s February final report as precedence.  Hur, who investigated President Joe Biden’s mishandling of classified doc, wrote in his final report that there is no record of the Department of Justice (DOJ ) prosecuting a former president or vice president for mishandling classified documents from his administration. Hur, however, noted that Trump is the only one to have charged under those circumstances.

“President Donald J. Trump respectfully submits that the Indictment must be dismissed based on the Office’s selective and vindictive prosecution,” Trump’s motion reads. “The exception is President Trump. The basis is his politics and status as President Joe Biden’s chief political rival. Thus, this case reflects the selective and vindictive prosecution that cannot be tolerated.”

Last month, Trump lost his bid to throw out his classified documents case when U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon denied his motion.

Judge Cannon denied the motion, citing the Presidential Records Act’s lack of a pre-trial basis for dismissing the 42-count indictment.

Special counsel Jack Smith indicted Trump, along with aide Walt Nauta, in June 2023 over allegations that the former president mishandled over 300 classified documents.

Trump’s lawyers previously argued at a hearing in March in the Fort Pierce federal courthouse that the former president designated the documents as his personal property ever since he took them from the White House to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach.

The former president was charged with 31 counts of violating the Espionage Act, one count each for conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record, corruptly concealing a document or record, and concealing a document in a deferral investigation, among other things.