Judge rules Trump's Mar-a-Lago classified documents case can proceed

MIAMI — A federal judge in Florida has denied a motion by former President Donald Trump to dismiss charges against him in the Mar-a-Lago documents case. Trump is charged with illegally withholding and concealing classified documents at Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House.

In their motion, Trump's lawyers asserted that the former president was able to designate classified documents as personal and, under the Presidential Records Act, legally retain them after his term ended. By taking them to Mar-a-Lago rather than sending them to the National Archives, his lawyers say, Trump was effectively designating them as personal.

At a hearing in Fort Pierce last month, prosecutors said the charges against Trump have nothing to do with the Presidential Records Act. In the indictment, he is charged with 32 counts of violating the Espionage Act.

In denying the defense motion, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, agreed with prosecutors. She wrote, "Those same counts make no reference to the Presidential Records Act nor do they rely on that statute for purposes of stating an offense."

Judge Cannon's order comes two days after Special Counsel Jack Smith told the judge in a court filing that it's "vitally important" she rule on whether Trump can cite the Presidential Records Act in his defense. That filing came after Cannon ordered prosecutors and Trump's lawyers to produce proposed jury instructions citing the Presidential Records Act.

"If the Court wrongly concludes that it does, and that it intends to include the PRA in the jury instructions ... it must inform the parties of that decision well in advance of trial," Smith wrote. He asked the judge to rule on the issue soon, saying prosecutors might need time to