By Andrew Goudsward
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Donald Trump quoted the American president Joe Bidenof mishandling classified documents after leaving the vice presidency as he seeks to have criminal charges related to his own retention of sensitive documents dismissed, court documents showed Thursday.
Trump, the former president and Republican challenger to Democrat Biden in the Nov. 5 election, argued that the decision not to indict Biden and other senior U.S. officials who mishandled classified information shows he is being targeted selectively by prosecutors.
U.S. District Judge Canon Aileen, who is overseeing the case and was appointed by Trump, will rule on Trump’s challenge. Cannon, who has been receptive to some of Trump’s defense arguments, questioned prosecutors in previous hearings about why former presidents and vice presidents found to have potentially classified documents had not been charged .
Trump faces a high legal bar to demonstrate that he was selectively targeted and such challenges are rarely successful, but the argument aligns with Trump’s campaign message that he is the victim of political persecution.
“American history is replete with public examples involving alleged mishandling of classified information and documents, which did not result in the type of politically motivated charges that the Special Prosecutor’s Office has brought against President Trump and his co-defendants,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in court. deposit.
The arguments were presented in a document filed under seal in February and made public with some redactions on Thursday.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges accusing him of illegally storing information related to US national security at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida after leaving the presidency in 2021 and obstructing government efforts to retrieve the documents.
Trump, the first former US president to face criminal charges, has been indicted in four separate cases and is on trial in New York state court over allegations that he falsified records to pay for money. money to a porn star before the 2016 elections.
Special counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the prosecution of the documents, argued in a previous court filing that Trump’s alleged obstruction — including asking his aides to move boxes containing classified documents and trying to convince his lawyer for lying to investigators – differentiated Trump’s case from Biden’s.
Robert Hur, the special counsel who investigated classified documents found at Biden’s home and former offices, noted Biden’s cooperation with his investigation and cited “material distinctions” with Trump’s case in a report published in February. Hur declined to bring criminal charges against Biden, but found evidence that Biden deliberately withheld sensitive documents after leaving the vice presidency in 2017.
Cannon previously rejected two of Trump’s other attempts to dismiss the charges.
(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward; editing by Scott Malone and Leslie Adler)
