The federal judge overseeing special counsel Jack Smith’s classified documents case against Donald Trump has rejected requests by Trump’s legal team to dismiss the charges. The charges against Trump include the unlawful retention of national defense information and allegations of obstructing the federal probe. Trump, along with his co-defendants Walta Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira, have pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing. The judge criticized prosecutors’ description of one incident as unnecessary to the charges and agreed to strike a single paragraph from the charging document that included uncharged offense allegations. The indictment against Trump contains 40 counts and accuses him of retaining classified documents from his time in the White House at his Florida estate.
Trump, Nauta, and de Oliveira made various arguments to dismiss the charges, including claims that multiple alleged crimes were listed under a single charge and that Nauta and de Oliveria did not know the boxes they were moving contained classified documents. The judge rejected these claims, stating that the language in the indictment was legally permissible, although she acknowledged that some issues could be raised by the defense at trial. The judge criticized the style of the indictment for containing nonessential allegations and described it as more of a narrative about the government’s theory of prosecution. Despite this critique, most of the 60-page indictment was upheld, except for a paragraph describing an incident in which Trump allegedly showed a classified map to an individual without security clearance in 2021.
The judge’s ruling aligned with past court hearings where she referred to the charging documents against Trump as a “speaking indictment” and criticized its length. She has previously rejected Trump’s legal arguments while also being critical of the special counsel and prosecutors. The trial date for the case has not yet been set as the judge is working through pretrial matters. Trump has also been charged in Washington, D.C., with four federal counts related to allegations of subverting the results of the 2020 presidential election. The former president pleaded not guilty to those charges, and the case is on hold as the Supreme Court considers his claims of presidential immunity from prosecution.
In her previous orders, the judge criticized Smith’s team for failing to confer with the defense and described their arguments as lacking substance and professional courtesy. She rejected requests to limit Trump’s speech about law enforcement in the case but allowed the special counsel to refile the request. The judge has set public hearings on various motions throughout the summer months as the case progresses. Despite the ongoing legal battles and criticisms, Smith continues to pursue the charges against Trump and his co-defendants, seeking to hold them accountable for their alleged actions related to classified information and obstructing federal investigations.
