Donald Trump is seeking another pause in his classified documents case.
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s recent presidential immunity ruling Donald Trump’s legal team argued he has blanket immunity from prosecution for his “official acts” as president which should result in a monthslong pause of his criminal proceedings in Florida.
The Friday filing by Trump’s legal team with U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon is the latest move by the former president to seize on the high court’s landmark immunity ruling to sideline his lingering criminal cases. According to Politico, Trump is asking Cannon for a chance to argue the immunity issue before her between now and early September, effectively pausing all other proceedings in the case by two months.
Trump has argued that his decision to transmit classified documents to his Florida home as he prepared to leave the presidency should be treated as an “official act” and be removed from special counsel Jack Smith’s case against Trump for allegedly hoarding national security secrets at his Mar-a-Lago estate. Now, he says, the Supreme Court’s ruling requires that the case be put on hold until the immunity issue is resolved.
Trump also used his Friday filing to point to President Joe Biden’s July 1 remarks panning the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling. It was the most explicit commentary by Biden about the criminal charges Trump is facing brought by the special counsel.
“The remark explicitly connected the Special Counsel’s Office with President Biden’s misuse of the criminal justice system to communicate with voters prior to the election,” Trump’s attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove wrote.
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