Attorneys for former President Donald Trump moved to dismiss a superseding indictment in his classified documents case and to have all evidence from the search of Mar-a-Lago thrown out.
In a 29-page filing Monday, Trump's attorneys told U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon that special counsel Jack Smith's team had tainted the evidence against the former president.
"President Donald J. Trump respectfully submits this motion to dismiss the Superseding Indictment, and to suppress all evidence seized in connection with the August 2022 raid at Mar-a-Lago, based on the FBI's destruction of important exculpatory evidence relating to the locations of the allegedly classified documents at issue," the motion said.
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The filing claimed that Trump must have been unaware that he had taken classified documents from the government because they were "comingled" with his personal items.
"The fact that the allegedly classified documents were buried in boxes and comingled with President Trump's personal effects from his first term in office strongly supported the defense argument that he lacked knowledge and culpable criminal intent with respect to the documents at issue," the document explained.
In a superseding indictment filed in 2023, Smith contended that Trump sought to have his employees delete security footage requested by a federal grand jury. Trump had previously faced 37 counts related to the mishandling of classified documents.
He has pleaded not guilty to all 45 counts against him.
Before the indictment, one Trump attorney was warned that "it's going to be a crime" if he didn't turn over the documents.