Trump seeks to dismiss classified documents case, citing ‘evidence tampering

Former President Donald Trump filed a motion to dismiss the classified documents case in Florida, alleging the FBI destroyed exculpatory evidence during the 2022 raid on his Mar-a-Lago residence, which he claims violated his due process rights.

The latest motion, filed late Monday evening, raises significant questions by the defendant about the conduct of special counsel Jack Smith’s office and the FBI under the Biden Justice Department, suggesting a politically motivated effort to undermine his defense. Trump’s motion came shortly after United States District Judge Aileen Cannon denied a separate request to dismiss some of the charges against the former president Monday evening.

Trump spokesman Steven Cheung released a press statement Tuesday afternoon saying Trump had moved to dismiss the “documents hoax due to DOJ evidence tampering.”

“Deranged Jack Smith was forced to admit in a public filing that he and his Thugs committed blatant evidence tampering by mishandling the very documents they used as pretext to bring this fake case,” Cheung said.

The motion from Trump’s attorneys Todd Blanche and Chris Kise contended that the FBI’s alleged mishandling of documents seized during the raid inhibits Trump from proving his claim that he lacked knowledge and intent regarding the presence of classified materials in his home.

“The FBI failed to preserve the original order of documents within the boxes, and there are no photographs or logs documenting the nature in which the allegedly classified documents were commingled with personal effects and out of plain view,” Trump’s attorneys wrote, noting that evidence “was materially exculpatory” as to the knowledge and intent requirements behind Trump’s alleged violation of the Espionage Act.

Trump’s team also accused the prosecution of acting in bad faith, motivated by “political animus” and an intent to manipulate the judicial process against him. His team claimed that the agents involved in the raid did not follow proper procedures, disregarding instructions to document the location and context of the seized materials. This conduct, Trump’s attorneys argued, demonstrates a deliberate effort to undermine his defense by “destroying exculpatory evidence.”

The motion further alleged that Smith’s office made false statements to the court about the condition and handling of the evidence. Trump’s defense highlighted multiple instances where the special counsel allegedly misled the court about the integrity and order of the documents. These misrepresentations, they argued, have significantly hindered their ability to mount a full defense.

“In fact, the documents in the boxes are not in the same order as when they were seized principally because the filter team made no effort to preserve the documents in that fashion,” Trump’s team wrote.

Last month, Smith’s office acknowledged that some evidence collected from Trump’s home wasn’t in the same condition in which FBI agents found it during the Mar-a-Lago raid.

“There are some boxes where the order of items within that box is not the same as in the associated scans,” prosecutors wrote in a filing in May. They added in a footnote: “The government acknowledges that this is inconsistent with what government counsel previously understood and represented to the court.”

Smith’s team contends that despite the reordering, each box still contains the same material it had in it when seized.

In addition to the evidence mishandling accusations, Trump’s motion criticized the prosecution for delaying the disclosure of crucial information and failing to meet discovery obligations. Trump’s team contended that these delays and omissions have prevented them from accessing key evidence needed for their defense. The motion pointed to untimely and incomplete disclosures by Smith’s office.

The latest allegations stem from the Aug. 8, 2022, raid on Mar-a-Lago, where the FBI seized 39 boxes of documents based on a search warrant related to the alleged unauthorized retention of classified information. Trump’s legal team has filed multiple motions to dismiss the case since it landed before Cannon, arguing in part that the search was unlawful.

The special counsel’s office requested that Trump’s attorneys include a statement from Smith’s team in the filing Monday evening.

“The defendant has failed to provide factual or legal support for a spoliation claim under controlling Eleventh Circuit and Supreme Court case law. The government has met and exceeded its discovery and other legal obligations. The defendant’s misconduct allegations are, once again, false,” the special counsel’s office said, according to the attached statement in Trump’s latest motion.

While Cannon denied Trump’s request to have several of the 41 charges thrown out Monday, she did rule that one paragraph from the indictments must be stricken, noting its “prejudicial” nature.

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The paragraph detailed an occurrence in which Trump is alleged to have shown a highly sensitive military map to one of his close aides after leaving the presidency.

The Washington Examiner contacted the special counsel’s office.