Trump’s Florida case has recently attracted significant attention, particularly due to rulings by Federal Judge Aileen Cannon that have cast doubt on the direction of the case. Earlier this week, Cannon in Florida denied Trump’s request to dismiss the charges related to the possession of classified documents, establishing that the Presidential Records Act (PRA) does not exempt Trump from allegations of unlawfully holding national defense information. In her decision, Cannon dismissed Trump’s defense that the PRA, a 1978 law designed to oversee the handling of official White House records, could invalidate the charges brought by the special counsel.
About the case
Special Counsel Jack Smith has brought forth a 40-count indictment against Trump, including 32 charges under the Espionage Act, a law that criminalizes the mishandling of national defense information. Investigators have retrieved over 300 sensitive documents from Trump’s Florida property, with allegations that Trump illegally possessed 32 of these documents. Despite pleading not guilty and denying any misconduct, the situation remains precarious for Trump.
Recent finding might bring new development
A recent legal document submitted by Trump’s defense team revealed that presidential records were also stored at Trump Tower in New York and at his property in Bedminster, New Jersey. This revelation has raised questions about the potential for future legal actions and the possible execution of search warrants at these locations. Neama Rahmani, a lawyer in California and former federal prosecutor, suggested to Newsweek the possibility of an FBI raid on Trump Tower, emphasizing the uncertainty surrounding the presence of additional classified documents at Trump’s other properties.
Potential FBI raid could happen later
Rahmani, who is currently leading the West Coast Trial Lawyers firm, explained that Special Counsel Jack Smith “is unlikely to do so at this stage of the case and during the election, but that possibility exists, especially because Trump has failed to comply with lawfully issued subpoenas in the past.”
The FBI raid
The FBI conducted a search at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in August 2022 where they retrieved classified documents that Trump had stored there. As a result, Trump now faces a trial in Florida. The charges against him include keeping classified documents from his time as president in various places within Mar-a-Lago, like a bathroom, and obstructing the efforts of federal officials to recover them. Despite these accusations, Trump has pleaded not guilty and insists he did nothing wrong.
Keeping classified documents before he was president
The latest submission from Trump’s lawyers indicates that Trump was in possession of classified documents at Trump Tower and in Bedminster before he was sworn in as president in 2017. The specifics of these documents are still not disclosed. While previous court documents did not specify the locations of these classified documents outside of Florida, Trump’s lawyers have recently revealed these details in a set of proposed jury instructions to U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon.
Former Trump employee previously mentioned moving boxes
Among the revelations in the stolen document case is that Mar-a-Lago employee Brian Butler, in an interview with CNN, said he helped Trump aide Walt Nauta deliver boxes of the documents to a plane “in June 2022 — the same day that Trump and his attorney were meeting with the Justice Department at Mar-a-Lago about the classified documents.” Trump was about to fly to his Bedminster country club when Nauta asked Butler to move the boxes, Butler, a witness for the prosecution, said.
