Trump’s Argument for Why the Classified Documents Case Should Be Dismissed Sounds Awfully Familiar

Keeping up with Donald Trump’s court schedule is a dizzying task, since he faces two federal trials, a criminal trial in Georgia, and two separate civil and criminal trials in New York. (Oh, and he’s running for president.) To make it easier to follow along, each Monday we’ll be looking back on all the Trump trial–related developments you might have missed the previous week.

Last week, attorneys for Trump filed a flurry of motions aimed at dismissing his federal classified documents case, while also introducing new evidence that could kick Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis off the Georgia election interference case. And to kick things off this week, lawyers for the former president filed a motion to appeal his civil fraud case verdict, which demands an enormous $454 million penalty.

Judge Aileen Cannon had some homework over the weekend! On Thursday, Trump’s attorneys filed seven separate motions making various arguments for dismissing special counsel Jack Smith’s classified documents case.

One of the reasons cited will sound familiar: presidential immunity. Attorneys for Trump argue he designated classified documents as personal under the Presidential Records Act and ordered that they be moved from the White House to Mar-a-Lago in Florida, all while he was still president. “The alleged decision was an official act, and as such is subject to presidential immunity.”

Here’s the thing about Trump’s presidential immunity claim: It was recently rejected by a federal appeals court in Smith’s federal election interference case. Trump is expected to appeal that decision with the Supreme Court, but for now he’s asked the high court only to stay the order so the case—and trial—can remain on pause while the appeal is considered.

Trump’s lawyers also argued that the classified documents case should be dismissed because of flaws in how Smith has interpreted and applied the PRA to the former president’s actions in the waning days of his presidency. They believe that the act gave Trump wide discretion in handling classified documents, that because he allegedly reassigned classified documents as personal records, the National Archives had “no role with respect to personal records once the Presidency concludes,” and that Trump technically was the “constitutional superior of the Archivist.”

After Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, who oversaw Trump’s civil fraud trial, slapped the former president with a $454 million fine—reflective of a $355 million penalty plus nearly $100 million in prejudgment interest—for filing fraudulent financial documents, on Monday Trump’s attorneys fired back by filing a notice of appeal to undo Engoron’s decision.

“We trust that the Appellate Division will overturn this egregious fine,” Alina Habba, Trump’s attorney on this case, wrote in the latest court filing seeking the appeals court’s opinion on whether Engoron “committed errors of law and/or fact, and whether he abused his discretion and/or acted in excess of his jurisdiction.”

Throughout the trial, Trump and his lawyers repeatedly accused Engoron and his principal law clerk Allison Greenfield of bias—and the vitriol got so bad that Engoron issued a gag order to stop Trump and his lawyers from publicly speaking about his staff. While the trial was still ongoing, Trump’s attorneys filed for a mistrial, which the judge promptly rejected.

In the end, on Feb. 16, Engoron delivered a verdict that found that Trump had “failed to accept responsibility” for submitting “blatantly false financial data” for the Trump Organization. The financials in question overinflated the company’s assets and gave way to more favorable loan terms, insurance rates, and tax benefits.

Even though Trump’s attorneys have initiated the appeals process, he still has to deposit “sufficient funds” into a court-controlled account or to secure a bond for the entirety of his $355 million penalty within 30 days of the verdict. He can’t receive an automatic stay, pausing enforcement of Engoron’s decision, without doing that first. Moreover, if he fails to post bond, New York Attorney General Letitia James can soon begin to seize Trump’s properties.

A new court filing in Georgia includes cellphone data that suggests that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she hired to work on her election interference case against Trump and others, may have been dating in 2021—contradicting both of their sworn testimonies.

Willis and Wade are embroiled in a messy fight against Trump and his fellow co-defendant Mike Roman, who claim that Willis hired Wade because the two were dating and that they both have a conflict of interest in prosecuting the Georgia election interference case. Judge Scott McAfee ordered an evidentiary hearing that quickly became heated, with Willis and Wade testifying on the witness stand. Both prosecutors said they were friends for some years before Wade was hired in 2021 to work on Willis’ investigation, but that they didn’t start dating until 2022.

However, new cellphone data submitted to the court by Trump’s attorney indicates that in 2021 Wade made at least 35 visits to the neighborhood where Willis lived, and that they exchanged almost 10,000 text messages and made over 2,000 phone calls to each other.

It’s worth noting that cellphone data is notoriously unreliable. An engineering professor told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the data reveals not Wade’s exact location, but more likely a rough average that includes Willis’ home. The data could also indicate that Wade was driving in the area around Willis’ home.

The DA fired back in a motion of her own and offered up copies of her calendar that show she would have been at her office or at crime scenes at the time of Wade’s alleged activity near her home. She also insisted that cellphone records “do not prove that Special Prosecutor Wade was ever at any particular location or address; they do not prove that Special Prosecutor Wade and District Attorney Willis were ever in the same place during any of the times listed.”