Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump arrives for an election-night watch party at Mar-a-Lago on March 5, 2024 in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
However, Judge Cannon seemed to double down, saying the arguments might have, "some force at trial, but it's hard to see how it gets you to a dismissal."
Judge Cannon at one point remarked that the Trump defense team's view of the Presidential Records Act would essentially, "Gut the PRA," giving presidents the unfettered ability to classify clearly presidential records as personal.
TRUMP ATTENDS FLORIDA HEARING ON POSSIBLE DISMISSAL OF CLASSIFIED DOCS CASE
Mr. Blanche replied that it is up to Congress to change the law. "That's what's supposed to happen. DOJ can't just decide..." [what is personal versus presidential]. "We don't have a lot of case law on this because this has never been done before," added Blanche. "While he was the president he took records, like many presidents... For the first time ever NARA took a different path and made a criminal referral," instead of negotiating with the president as had been done in the past.
Judge Cannon at one point said, "Correct... the seizure of a president's records was seen to be an extraordinary act."
Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump gestures to supporters during an election night watch party at the State Fairgrounds on February 24, 2024, in Columbia, South Carolina. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
"They can't have it both ways," said Blanche. "No effort to investigate whether there was national defense information in President Clinton's socks," but still referring the Trump matter to the DOJ for a potential criminal prosecution.
DOJ prosecutor David Harbach told Judge Cannon that the documents seized at Mar-a-Lago, "were not personal, nowhere close to that.. The only inference is that they were presidential, not personal."
Harbach also went back to one of Judge Cannon's questions to the defense, "Our view is that President Trump's position would completely gut the PRA."
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Mr. Harbach also took pains to stress the independence of Special Counsel Jack Smith's team, "We are not appendages or puppets of the Biden Administration."
Jake Gibson is the Fox News Department of Justice and Federal Law Enforcement Producer
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