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Story · April 5, 2024

Aileen Cannon rejects Trump’s bid to toss classified-docs case

By The Daily Fuckup Newsroom · From the April 5, 2024 edition

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Correction: Corrected to clarify that Judge Cannon ruled the Presidential Records Act did not provide a pretrial basis to dismiss the case; the ruling did not hold that the statute 'blocks' the prosecution.

Donald Trump lost another pretrial fight in the classified-documents case on April 4 when U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon refused to throw out the indictment. Trump had argued that the Presidential Records Act gave him authority over how White House records were categorized and retained after he left office. Cannon was not persuaded, and her order left the prosecution in place.

The ruling did not decide whether Trump is guilty or innocent. It did not resolve the evidence or the broader criminal allegations. What it did do was reject one of Trump’s key dismissal theories and allow the case to move ahead toward the next round of pretrial disputes.

At issue was Trump’s claim that the records law could shield him from the charges. The court’s order treated that argument as too weak to wipe out the indictment at this stage. Prosecutors allege Trump unlawfully kept sensitive government material after leaving office and then obstructed efforts to get it back. Cannon’s decision means those claims remain live for now.

Trump has leaned hard on procedural attacks across the case, trying to narrow or delay it before trial. This ruling cuts off one of those routes. It does not end the fight, but it does keep the indictment standing and narrows the room Trump has to argue that the case should be dismissed before a jury ever hears it.

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