U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon on Thursday shot down one of 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.
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.
Cannon said Trump could raise the issue later “in connection with jury-instruction briefing and/or other appropriate motions.”
The decision came shortly after a hearing in which Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential candidate, sat in court as a criminal defendant and listened carefully to the legal arguments swirling around him.
“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,” said Cannon.
No American president has ever been charged with crimes before Trump’s four indictments, which include 91 criminal courts.