Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Former President Donald Trump on Thursday asked a federal judge to throw out the criminal case alleging he mishandled classified documents at his Florida estate, arguing that he is shielded by presidential immunity.
Trump’s lawyers argued in a motion to dismiss that he was immune from the criminal charges filed against him by special counsel Jack Smith “because the charges turn on his alleged decision to designate records as personal under the Presidential Records Act”—and because he allegedly made this decision while in office, it was “an official act, and as such is subject to presidential immunity.”
The former president has pleaded not guilty to the 40-count indictment filed against him in Florida last June, accusing him of unlawfully hoarding classified material at Mar-a-Lago and trying to keep the government from retrieving the records.