CBS News
Special counsel urges judge to reject Trump’s efforts to dismiss documents case
Washington — Special counsel Jack Smith urged a federal judge on Thursday to reject former President Donald Trump’s attempts to dismiss the indictment related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents, describing some of Trump’s legal arguments as “frivolous” and as attempts merely intended to delay the case.
Last month, Trump attorneys lodged numerous motions to convince Judge Aileen Cannon to toss the charges, taking issue with Smith’s appointment as special counsel and claiming various legal principles — including the Presidential Records Act and the theory of presidential immunity — shielded Trump from criminal prosecution.
Trump is charged with 40 counts in the Southern District of Florida stemming from allegations that he unlawfully retained national defense information and then worked to impede the federal probe into his handling of the material. He has pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.
Smith’s filings on Thursday urged the judge to deny Trump’s arguments and move on with the case. Prosecutors called the argument that Trump is protected by the principle of presidential immunity “wholly without merit” and “without basis in law” and accused Trump’s team of solely working to delay the trial.
The Justice Department argued Trump “lost the authority to possess documents” with classified markings after he left the White House and wrote that all of the conduct alleged in the indictment occurred after he was no longer president.
The Supreme Court is set to consider, in April, Trump’s claim of presidential immunity in Smith’s other case against him. That case focuses on Trump’s alleged conduct after the 2020 presidential election. But the case, which is based in Washington, D.C., is on hold until the high court rules on the matter. Two lower courts have already denied Trump’s arguments.
Prosecutors asked Cannon to dismiss the immunity claim in Florida as “frivolous.” If she were to do so, it would prevent Trump’s legal team from filing an interlocutory appeal that would delay the case indefinitely.
Trump’s team also wrote last month that the Presidential Records Act “precludes judicial review” over a president’s recordkeeping, contending that the court has no jurisdiction in the matter. In other cases involving “government officials whose last name is not Trump,” matters were handled differently, they said, adding Trump had the authority to deem any governmental record as personal in nature.
Smith’s team, however, argued Thursday that the more than 300 documents with classified markings recovered from Trump “are indisputably presidential, not personal.”
“Trump was not authorized to possess classified records at all,” prosecutors argued.
The federal probe into Trump’s handling of classified records followed a months-long effort by federal officials to collect missing documents. Investigators ultimately executed a search warrant at his Florida residence and club, Mar-a-Lago, in August of 2022, after the former president was allegedly not fully responsive to a grand jury subpoena.
The Trump legal team also filed certain motions to dismiss the case under seal because they said they contained information that could have fallen under a protective order. Prosecutors filed their response to those motions — including one that claimed Trump was being politically targeted by the Biden administration — publicly.
The former president, Smith wrote, “failed to provide any evidence that his indictment was brought solely to retaliate against him for exercising his legal rights, rather than because he flagrantly and repeatedly broke the law.”
On the campaign trail, Trump has argued the Justice Department — whose leadership was appointed by President Joe Biden — was targeting him because of his candidacy, the basis of his “vindictive prosecution” argument.
Prosecutors pushed back Thursday, writing, “That theory finds no support in evidence or logic.”
They also rejected Trump’s claim that Mr. Biden was treated differently for similar conduct when another special counsel, Robert Hur, determined no criminal charges were warranted after classified records from Biden’s tenure as vice president were recovered at his home and office.
“Trump, unlike Biden, is alleged to have engaged in extensive and repeated efforts to obstruct justice and thwart the return of documents bearing classification markings, which provides particularly strong evidence of willfulness and is a paradigmatic aggravating factor that prosecutors routinely rely on when making charging decisions,” Smith’s team wrote.
The former president and two co-defendants — his aide Walt Nauta and former Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos de Oliveria — are accused of working to impede investigators. They all have denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty.
Nauta and de Oliveira also filed motions to dismiss the case against them, which Smith’s team opposed in separate court filings on Thursday.
Last week, Trump and his co-defendants appeared in Judge Cannon’s courtroom in part to discuss the upcoming trial schedule. The former president’s legal team contended a fair trial would not be possible before the upcoming presidential election, but conceded August or September would be feasible should the judge decide to move forward.
Smith has asked the court to begin trial in July. It is unclear when the judge will make a decision.
Late Thursday, Cannon set a hearing on the motions to dismiss for next week.
CBS News
Puerto Rico comments from speaker at Trump rally draw criticism while Harris’ plan for the island gets Bad Bunny endorsement
With nine days until Election Day, Puerto Rico has been thrust into the spotlight by both campaigns. Vice President Kamala Harris unveiled a plan to assist the island — leading to an endorsement from Bad Bunny — while Puerto Rico was referred to as “a floating island of garbage” by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who spoke at a rally for former President Donald Trump in New York City.
In an effort to court Puerto Rican voters in the U.S. mainland, Harris on Sunday posted a video on her social media platforms pledging to create a Puerto Rican task force to create jobs, cut red tape to ensure disaster recovery funds are used quickly and efficiently and work with leaders across the island to ensure Puerto Ricans have access to reliable and affordable electricity.
Rapper and singer Bad Bunny, a global superstar from Puerto Rico, shared the vice president’s video on his Instagram account with his 45 million followers and later posted a clipped portion of the video in which Harris slammed Trump for his response to Hurricane Maria, which devastated the island in 2017.
“I will never forget what Donald Trump did and what he did not do when Puerto Rico needed a caring and a competent leader,” Harris said in the video. “He abandoned the island, tried to block aid after back-to-back devastating hurricanes, and offered nothing more than paper towels and insults.”
In 2017, Trump visited the island to survey damage after Hurricane Maria struck as a major Category 4 storm. While visiting with survivors, the former president at one point threw paper towels into the crowd when distributing supplies, a move that was criticized as callous amid widespread frustration over the federal response to the hurricane that left much of the island without power and food.
A source close to Bad Bunny confirmed to CBS News that the Instagram post represents an endorsement of the vice president, breaking from Bad Bunny’s longstanding tradition to not weigh in on national politics. It’s a coveted endorsement with weight that both political parties have long hoped to achieve to strengthen inroads with Latino voters, given Bad Bunny’s global popularity.
Moments before Bad Bunny’s endorsement, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe targeted Puerto Rico during a set of disparaging jokes while speaking at a Trump rally in Madison Square Garden.
“I don’t know if you guys know this, but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now,” Hinchcliffe said. “I think it’s called Puerto Rico.”
Trump senior advisor Danielle Alvarez told CBS News, “this joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign” adding that the jokes were not reviewed or pre-approved.
Hinchcliffe’s remarks, which also included offensive jokes about Black people and Latinos, were met with swift backlash, with several celebrities coming out in defense of Puerto Rico, Latinos in the U.S. and voicing their support for Harris’ plan for the island. Among those who weighed in were Jennifer Lopez, Ariana DeBose and Ricky Martin. Martin, with over 18 million followers, took to Instagram and posted, “Puerto Rico, this is what they think of us, vote for Kamala Harris.”
Several Democratic and Republican politicians were also among those to denounce Hinchcliffe’s swing at Puerto Ricans, who make up a crucial voting group.
Harris’ running mate Gov. Tim Walz said during a livestream with Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, “There are hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans across battleground states. They need to vote.”
Ocasio-Cortez agreed with Walz and directed her comments toward Puerto Ricans in the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania. “If you’re in Reading, if you’re in Philly, look at that trash,” Ocasio-Cortez said, referring to Hinchcliffe’s joke. “What is trash is people actually just thinking of other human beings that way.”
Pennsylvania is home to over 579,000 eligible Latino voters with roughly 50% residing within the “222 Corridor” — a stretch of small cities west and north of Philadelphia including Reading, Allentown and Bethlehem.
With Trump winning the Keystone State in 2016 by 44,000 votes and Biden taking it by 81,000 in 2020, slim margins are again expected to determine the outcome of the presidential election.
Harris on Sunday spoke directly to Latino voters while visiting a local Puerto Rican restaurant in Philadelphia. “When I was in the Senate, knowing Puerto Rico doesn’t have a senator, I always felt a need and an obligation to do what I could as a senator to make sure that Puerto Rico’s needs were met,” Harris said.
Harris campaign spokesperson Kevin Muñoz said Sunday in a statement, “A reminder: Pennsylvania is home to more than 1 million Latinos who are primarily of Puerto Rican backgrounds, and today, Vice President Harris campaigned in the heart of Philadelphia’s Puerto Rican community talking not just about her vision for the island, but how she will lower costs and create opportunity in their communities on the mainland.”
On Tuesday, Trump is expected to campaign in Allentown, Pennsylvania, where Latinos make up 54% of the population, the majority being of Puerto Rican descent.
Republican Florida Senator Rick Scott, an ally of Trump’s, also denounced Hinchcliffe’s comments.
“This joke bombed for a reason. It’s not funny and it’s not true,” Scott said. “Puerto Ricans are amazing people and amazing Americans! I’ve been to the island many times. It’s a beautiful place. Everyone should visit! I will always do whatever I can to help any Puerto Rican in Florida or on the island.”
Republican Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar called the comments “racist.”
The island’s Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González-Colón, a Republican running for governor of the island, said the comments were “despicable, inappropriate and disgusting.”
and
contributed to this report.
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