Jack Smith Shreds Trump’s Immunity Argument: ‘Wholly Without Merit’ and ‘Difficult to Understand’
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Special Counsel Jack Smith filed a response to former President Donald Trump’s motions to have the federal classified documents case against him dismissed.
Trump’s legal team has filed several motions asking Judge Aileen Cannon to either delay or outright dismiss Smith’s 40-felony count indictment against the former president.
Smith pulled no punches in his filing on Thursday calling Trump’s various arguments “frivolous” and “outlandish.”
Smith particularly zeroed in on Trump’s argument that the Presidential Records Act (PRA) allowed him to take the classified material home with him and that he should be extended presidential immunity from criminal prosecution – even for alleged crimes committed after leaving office. Notably, the PRA actually does the opposite of what Trump has long claimed. Instead of allowing presidents to take documents from their office at will, it created a system for the preservation of all presidential materials through the National Archives.
“Trump’s reliance on the PRA as a basis for dismissing the indictment is wrong. The PRA does not exempt Trump from the criminal law, entitle him to unilaterally declare highly classified presidential records to be personal records, or shield him from criminal investigations—let alone allow him to obstruct a federal investigation with impunity,” wrote Smith in the filing.
Smith also shot down Trump’s argument that he can simply declassify documents by removing them:
Moreover, his claim that obviously presidential records—highly sensitive government documents bearing classification markings that were presented to Trump during his term in office—can be transformed into “personal” records by the alchemy of removing them from the White House is false.
Smith later in the document pushed back on Trump’s claim of presidential immunity, which is set to be argued before the Supreme Court in April.
“Every criminal charge in the Superseding Indictment is based upon conduct in which Trump engaged after he left office,” they wrote. “Even if a former President could claim some immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts — and he cannot — Trump could not benefit from any such immunity in this case. Trump’s immunity claim here is so wholly without merit that it is difficult to understand it except as part of a strategic effort for delay,” Smith wrote.
Politico’s Kyle Cheney dug through the entire 29-page filing from Smith and concluded, “Smith agued today that Trump’s handling of classified docs was significantly more egregious than: Joe Biden, Hillary and Bill Clinton, Mike Pence, James Comey, David Petraeus, Sandy Berger, John Deutch, and Deborah Birx.”
Cheney went on to note the Smith said Trump’s “deception” in trying to retain the documents was both blatantly illegal and distinguishes Trump from President Joe Biden and Vice President Mike Pence – who voluntarily returned documents. “This is a remarkable document in which Smith compares Trump’s actions to a long list of high-profile people accused of mishandling classified info. In a nutshell, none of them were as brazenly obstructive as Trump,” wrote Cheney of Smith’s argument.
Read the full filing from Smith here.
