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Donald Trump's attempts to claim presidential immunity in his classified documents case has been strongly criticized by legal commentators.
In Thursday's filing to Judge Aileen Cannon, Trump's lawyers say that there has never been a prosecution of a president in over 200 years of American history.
Their submission also says that many previous presidents have been accused of crimes, yet were never prosecuted. These included President George W. Bush's war in Iraq, which cost "thousands of lives", the submission says, as well as President Barack Obama's drone attack on an American citizen and President Biden's funding of a United Nations agency whose employees were allegedly involved in Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel.
The motions to Judge Cannon were filed by Trump lawyers Todd Blanche and Christopher Kise.
National security attorney Bradley P. Moss wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday night that the submission was "insultingly stupid" and accused Trump's lawyers of trying to introduce new facts.
"Trump is arguing he designated all these highly classified records as PERSONAL records, and that he therefore had the right to keep them," Moss wrote. "Even if that was a plausible argument, this is a motion to dismiss: he can't introduce news facts."
Newsweek sought email comment from Trump's attorney on Friday.
On a separate motion to dismiss for unconstitutional vagueness in the legislation, Moss wrote: "I also won't waste my time with this one. Trump did the standard 'the Espionage Act provision is unconstitutionally vague' argument every [Espionage] Act defendant tries. It will fail. Just like the rest."
Former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance, a frequent Trump critic, said that Trump's presidential immunity filing largely covers the same areas as his previous attempts to claim presidential immunity from his election interference case in Washington, D.C.
"The arguments are no more meritorious than the ones the court of appeals in DC already rejected," Vance wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday.
Trump is facing 40 federal charges over allegations he retained classified papers after leaving the White House in January 2021 and then obstructed efforts by the relevant authorities to have them returned.
In August 2022, Trump's Mar-a-Lago private members club was raided by federal agents who recovered several classified papers. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges and strongly denies any wrongdoing. He is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential race.
The prosecution is being led by Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith.
In a request filed to Cannon on February 20, Trump's lawyers sought permission to file "at least 10 pretrial motions concerning, for example, the appointment of Jack Smith, presidential immunity, the Presidential Records Act, selective and vindictive prosecution, the unconstitutional vagueness of 18 U.S.C. § 793(e), due process violations, prosecutorial misconduct, impermissible pre-indictment delay, the illegal raid at Mar-a-Lago, and improper violations of President Trump's attorney-client privilege."
Cannon is now reviewing those motions, which were all filed on Thursday.
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About the writer
Sean O'Driscoll is a Newsweek Senior Crime and Courts Reporter based in Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. law. ... Read more