Defense May Try to Dismiss Trump Indictment in Documents Case: Ex-U.S. Atty

Former President Donald Trump's legal team could try to dismiss the Department of Justice's (DOJ) indictment that alleged he removed classified documents from the White House after leaving office, according to former U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Sloman on Sunday.

Last month, the DOJ charged Trump on 37 counts in its investigation into classified documents being discovered at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. Federal prosecutors made public an indictment that alleges Trump knowingly took the documents, some of which related to military plans, from the White House and obstructed government efforts to retrieve them. Trump, however, has pleaded not guilty to all charges and maintained his innocence. He has accused prosecutors of targeting him for political reasons, including weakening his standing in the 2024 presidential election.

Sloman, who previously served as the attorney for the Southern District of Florida, said during an appearance on MSNBC's The Katie Phang Show on Sunday morning that Trump's legal team may file a motion attempting to dismiss the indictment in legal proceedings at the end of the month during a discussion about how the former president's attorneys could seek to delay the case.

"They're going to raise motions that are coming up at the end of the month, regarding maybe dismissing the indictment. Maybe saying that the government was out of bounds in leaking material or things like that," he said.

Still, Sloman predicted that any efforts to dismiss the indictment would likely "go nowhere" and that the court will impose several deadlines over the coming months with how classified material will be presented, which he expects to be a sticking point between the government and Trump's attorneys

"Going forward, there's going to be battle lines drawn over how the classified materials are going to be presented to the jury," he said.

Sloman said the government will likely try to argue the information contained in the classified documents should not be presented to the jury in full, while Trump's legal representatives will argue that everything should be presented to the jury in an attempt to make legal proceedings more complicated.

Newsweek reached out to Trump's campaign for comment via email.

Judge Aileen Cannon, who is overseeing the case, gave Trump his latest deadline in the case on Thursday.

Cannon, who was appointed by the former president, told the attorneys for Trump and his personal aide Walt Nauta, who recently pleaded not guilty to helping obstruct the government's attempt to retrieve the classified documents, that they have until July 13 to complete all "outstanding applicant tasks required to obtain the requisite security clearances" in the case.

Cannon has also set the trial to begin on August 14, but federal prosecutors have said Trump's' attorneys would need more time in order to obtain security clearance to view the classified documents, requesting the trial be delayed until December.