Prosecutors in Trump classified documents case draw sharp distinctions with Biden investigation

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal prosecutors on Thursday drew sharp distinctions in the classified documents investigations of Donald Trump and President Joe Biden as they urged a federal judge to reject the former president’s claims that he was the victim of a vindictive and selective prosecution.

Trump’s lawyers told U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon last month that the felony prosecution of Trump should be dismissed in part because he had been charged with illegally retaining classified documents while numerous other public figures also investigated for the potential mishandling of sensitive records, including Biden, had either not been prosecuted or faced much less serious criminal cases.

But special counsel Jack Smith’s team, in a court filing Thursday responding to that argument, said that Trump’s conduct “went much further” than that of the other officials he identified and that none of them “is alleged to have willfully retained a vast trove of highly sensitive, confidential materials and repeatedly sought to thwart their lawful return and engaged in a multifaceted scheme of deception and obstruction.”

That scheme, prosecutors added, “included not only Trump’s own repeated efforts to stymie the investigation, but his recruitment and direction of his subordinates to join in the conspiracy repeated efforts to stymie the investigation, but his recruitment and direction of his subordinates to join in the conspiracy.”

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«READ MORE» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-show-loadmore=«true» data-gtm-modulestyle=«List B»> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> READ MORE </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> Judge denies Trump