Jack Smith rips Trump ally's far-fetched claim in classified documents case
The "America First" legal filing supporting Trump's far-fetched claim is "without merit," the special counsel told Judge Aileen Cannon.
By Jordan Rubin
MSNBC, March 14, 2024
EXCERPT...
By way of background, Trump claims that he had designated sensitive government documents he’s charged with unlawfully retaining as “personal records” under the PRA. From that dubious premise, he says his retention of those records couldn’t have been “unauthorized” under a criminal statute he’s charged with violating. As part of his far-fetched argument, he says it was wrong for the National Archives and Records Administration, which handles presidential records, to even refer the matter to the Justice Department in what ultimately led to Trump’s indictment.
The "America First" legal group picks up on the referral point. The amicus brief questioned a federal agency’s ability to make criminal referrals without specific authorization to do so. It argued that NARA lacked such authorization and so the indictment must be dismissed. But all of those contentions, Smith wrote, “are wrong.”
The special counsel explained that no such authorization is required for criminal referrals and that under the Miller group’s theory, NARA couldn’t, for example, report if someone illegally brought a firearm into a NARA facility. Smith added that even if such authorization were required, NARA had it, and that its officials “had reason to believe that classified information may have been lost, possibly compromised, or disclosed to an unauthorized person, and further had reason to believe that a criminal violation may have occurred.”
SOURCE:
https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/trump-classified-documents-stephen-miller-brief-rcna143363
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