By Andrew Goudsward and Andy Sullivan
FORT PIERCE, Florida (Reuters) -A federal judge referred to President Joe Biden’s handling of sensitive government records on Thursday as she considered whether to dismiss a criminal case against Donald Trump that charges him with illegally holding onto classified documents.
The remarks by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed to her post by Trump, suggested that she was comparing the two incidents as she questioned whether Trump should have known he was breaking the law when he took boxes of sensitive records with him when his presidency ended in 2021.
“It’s uncontested that no former executive or former vice president was exposed to criminal liability” other than Trump for allegedly mishandling sensitive government documents, Cannon said at a hearing to consider his arguments that the charges brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith should be dismissed.
The hearing in Fort Pierce, Florida was the latest legal gambit by Trump to try to derail the four criminal cases he faces while he campaigns as the Republican candidate challenging Biden in the Nov. 5 U.S. election.
Trump has argued that he is the victim of selective prosecution and is being targeted by Democrats as he seeks to regain the presidency.
A federal prosecutor last month said Biden would not face criminal charges for knowingly keeping classified documents at an office and at home after he left the vice presidency in 2017. Mike Pence, who served as vice president under Trump, also was investigated but not charged for keeping classified documents at his Indiana home.
Federal prosecutors who have brought the 40-count indictment against Trump have said his conduct was different.
While Biden and Pence cooperated with investigators, prosecutors have said Trump discussed lying to those who were trying to recover the documents, and moved them around his Mar-a-Lago resort to prevent their discovery.
Some of those documents discussed national security issues including nuclear weapons capabilities and U.S. vulnerability to military attack, according to prosecutors.
“Nothing remotely similar to this happened” when other high U.S. officials allegedly mishandled sensitive government records, said Jay Bratt, a prosecutor on the case.
Trump’s legal woes have not hampered his political prospects so far, and he clinched the Republican presidential nomination this week. On Thursday, supporters rallied outside the courthouse, waving banners and cheering as a motorcade pulled into a secure entrance.
At the hearing, Cannon seemed skeptical of several arguments that Trump’s lawyers have made in their efforts to dismiss the case.
Cannon said that the issue of whether he was allowed to keep the documents because he had designated them as “personal” should be explored at trial, rather than used a reason to throw it out of court. She also did not seem inclined to agree that the central charge against Trump – illegally retaining information related to U.S. national defense – is improperly vague, as Trump’s lawyers have argued.
“That would be an extraordinary step,” the judge said.
Cannon previously ruled in favor of Trump in an unusual challenge brought before charges were filed and was later rebuked by a federal appeals court.
The timing of a trial remains uncertain. Both Trump and prosecutors acknowledged the currently scheduled May start date will need to be postponed. Smith has sought a July start, while Trump suggested August even as he argued a trial should not happen before the election.
If Trump wins the election, he would have the power to end the two federal criminal cases, though not the two brought under state law.
Trump’s legal maneuvering has yielded some successes in other cases as well.
A federal case that accuses him of illegally trying to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden is on hold as the Supreme Court considers his argument that he cannot be prosecuted for actions taken as president.
An election-subversion case in Georgia state court has been thrown into limbo as a judge considers whether to remove the lead prosecutor for having a romantic relationship with a subordinate.
Trump’s trial in the fourth case is set for March 25 on New York state charges involving hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels. He has asked for that case to be delayed as well.
(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward in Fort Pierce, Florida, and Andy Sullivan in Washington; Editing by Will Dunham)
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