Special counsel Jack Smith filed a thorough response to Donald Trump's motion to dismiss charges that he mishandled classified documents.
In a 27-page filing, Smith explained to U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon why he believed Trump's case should not be dismissed.
Smith said Trump's lawyers were wrong to argue that the Presidential Records Act (PRA) nullified a national security law.
"Section 793(e) prohibits the unauthorized possession and willful retention of national defense information," Smith wrote. "Even if the raft of highly classified documents that Trump took from the White House to Mar-a-Lago were somehow categorized as 'personal' under the PRA, that would not render his retention of those documents 'authorized' for purposes of Section 793(e)."
The special counsel disagreed with Trump's argument that his authority to declassify presidential documents was beyond judicial review.
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"That is wrong," Smith declared. "Nothing in the PRA leaves it to a President to make unilateral, unreviewable, and perpetually binding decisions to remove presidential records from the White House in a manner that thwarts the operation of the PRA—a statute designed to ensure that presidential records are the property of the United States and that they are preserved for the people."
Smith also said Trump was "wrong to assert that the PRA’s civil remedy for recovering presidential records preempts the Justice Department’s authority to investigate and enforce criminal law."
Last month, Trump's attorneys asked Cannon to dismiss the case against their client.