Former President Donald Trump’s legal team made a big move on Friday, filing a motion in U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s court regarding his classified documents case brought by special prosecutor Jack Smith.
Attorneys representing Trump have submitted a motion to dismiss Smith’s case involving those documents, citing selective prosecution. In the recently unsealed legal filing, Trump’s lawyers point out instances where various politicians and government officials, such as President Biden, Hillary Clinton, and former FBI Director James Comey, engaged in similar actions without facing prosecution.
“President Donald J. Trump respectfully submits that the indictment must be dismissed on the basis of the office’s selective prosecution,” Trump’s legal team wrote in a court filing obtained by veteran reporter Julie Kelly, who has extensively covered the case.
The filing further references the report by Special Counsel Robert Hur, tasked with probing President Biden’s handling of classified documents. Biden was discovered to have stored documents in various locations, including a former office at the Penn-Biden Center in Philadelphia, a law office in Boston, and his garage in Delaware. Despite these findings, Biden has not been criminally charged for actions for which Trump faces multiple felony charges. Hur noted the absence of charges against a former vice president or president, with “one exception.”
“The exception is President Trump. The basis is his politics and status as President Biden’s chief political rival. Thus, this case reflects the type of selective and vindictive prosecution that cannot be tolerated,” the filing continued.
The filing lists additional examples of government officials who mishandled classified information without facing prosecution. It also calls for dismissing Smith’s indictment, which accuses Trump of obstructing the National Archives and Records Administration investigation.
“Finally, the unproven obstruction allegations by the Special Counsel’s Office cannot save this prosecution. Hillary Clinton and her colleagues deleted 31,830 emails and destroyed data on numerous electronic devices, including after a congressional preservation order,” Trump’s legal team noted in its filing.
“Comey hid from the FBI that he had used a private scanner and his personal email account to transmit at least two classified documents to his personal attorneys,” the filing added. It is also pointed out that Sandy Berger, who held the position of President Clinton’s top national security advisor, confessed to stealing classified documents and then shredding them into small pieces with scissors. “None of these individuals faced a charge under the Espionage Act or was prosecuted for obstruction,” said the filing.
In an X post, Kelly suggested that Cannon may be open to dismissing the case based on selective prosecution, but she also said the judge may want to allow the case to play out in court to demonstrate how patently political it is.
“There is a chance she dismisses the case based on selective/vindictive prosecution—which she hinted at during a hearing last month. This could be her way of getting as much evidence into the public square to justify such a decision,” Kelly said in response to several unsealed documents and court filings ordered released by Cannon. “Part of me also thinks she wants this to go to trial to expose just how dirty the case is and force Jack Smith to own it.”
There is a chance she dismisses the case based on selective/vindictive prosecution—which she hinted at during a hearing last month. This could be her way of getting as much evidence into the public square to justify such a decision.
Part of me also thinks she wants this to go to… https://t.co/5nuF3lhpt0
— Julie Kelly ?? (@julie_kelly2) April 29, 2024
Disclaimer: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.