Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon denied a motion to dismiss some of the charges in former President Trump's indictment for holding on to classified documents. The indictment, consisting of 41 counts, accuses the former president of illegally hoarding classified documents from his presidency and conspiring to conceal sensitive files from the federal government.
Trump's legal team had attempted to dismiss over half a dozen of the charges, particularly those related to obstruction and false statements. However, Judge Cannon ruled on June 10 that the identified deficiencies did not warrant dismissal. She stated that these deficiencies, while possibly causing some confusion, were either permissible by law, raised evidentiary challenges not suitable for resolution at that stage, or did not necessitate dismissal as long as the jury was properly instructed and provided with adequate verdict forms.
While most of the charges stood, Judge Cannon did agree to strike down a paragraph from the indictment that defense lawyers argued contained prejudicial information not essential to the core charges.
It is worth noting that this is not the first time Judge Cannon has rejected motions to dismiss the case. One such motion argued that the Presidential Records Act allowed Trump to retain the documents post-presidency and designate them as personal files, a claim that was also dismissed by the court.
