On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon Thursday struck down one of President Donald Trump’s bids to toss out the charges against him for allegedly mishandling classified documents, rejecting his claims that the Espionage Act was unfairly vague when used against a former president via MSN.
It has been noted in a brief written order, Cannon said some of Trump’s arguments warrant “serious consideration” but added it was too early to dismiss charges based on disagreements over the definition of some terms used in the Espionage Act. She did say Trump could raise the issue later “in connection with jury-instruction briefing and/or other appropriate motions.”
The ruling was made soon after Trump, the presumed Republican nominee for president, appeared in court as a criminal defendant and paid close attention to the legal reasons made against him.
During the hearing, Cannon expressed doubt about Trump’s assertions that he could not face charges because to the vague language in the Espionage Act and the overly broad scope of the Presidential Records Act.
“You would agree that declaring a statute is unconstitutionally vague is quite an extraordinary step?” she asked Trump lawyer Emil Bove at one point.
The judge, who was nominated by Trump and has been on the federal bench since late 2020, sounded especially doubtful of the defense claim that the Presidential Records Act means Trump could simply declare highly classified documents to be his personal property and keep them at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida home and private club.
“It’s difficult to see how this gets you to a dismissal of the indictment,” Cannon said.
