Donald Trump's lawyers have asked a federal court to dismiss allegations that he illegally kept classified documents after leaving the White House, arguing that he enjoys criminal immunity, AFP reported.
In this case, Donald Trump is accused of putting the security of the United States at risk by keeping classified documents after he left the White House in January 2021 at his residence in Florida instead of turning them over to the National Archives as required the law.
He then allegedly thwarted attempts by investigators to obtain them.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to the 40 counts that make up the indictment brought in Florida by special counsel Jack Smith.
In a 20-page filing, Trump's lawyers argued that when he took the documents out of the White House, it was an official act.
"President Trump made this decision while still in office. The alleged decision was an official act and as such is subject to presidential immunity," the motion said.
The front-runner in the Republican primary for the November presidential election is the subject of four separate criminal charges, and his multiple appeals aim to bring him to trial as soon as possible.
Trump used the same argument against a federal conspiracy charge against the US state after his 2020 election defeat by Joe Biden, which led to the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021 by a mob of his supporters.
Earlier this month, a federal appeals court ruled that his immunity claim was not supported by the US Constitution. Trump then appealed to the Supreme Court in an attempt to halt the ruling.
The question of the criminal immunity of a former president of the United States has never been tested in American jurisprudence because, until the Trump case, no former president has been charged with a crime. /BGNES
