Trump attends classified documents hearing seeking dismissal of charges: Live updates

Donald Trump’s lawyers have indeed made their case that the classified documents were “personal”.

Judge Aileen Cannon asked them if this was a legal or factual argument. She is implying that a factual argument is something that would be decided by a jury at trial, rather than a judge in a pre-trial hearing.

Two motions are being discussed in court today:

Motion 1 – Whether to dismiss the case based on the Presidential Records Act, which governs the preservation of information during and after a presidency. Trump’s team will argue that he had the discretion to designate certain materials as personal and the materials found at Mar-a-Lago fall under that. Special Counsel Jack Smith will argue that the materials are undeniably presidential not personal.

Motion 2 – Whether to dismiss the case based on “unconstitutional vagueness”. Trump’s team will argue that the laws cited here are unclear, whereas Jack Smith’s team will argue that the law is clear and the former president engaged in the unlawful retention of classified materials.

It is worth noting that Donald Trump does not have to be at the courthouse today as it is only a pre-trial hearing.

There are also no cameras in court or audio available to stream — so no public performance opportunities unless he speaks outside afterwards.

The former president could be out on the campaign trail right now as Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are in key swing states Michigan and Minnesota.

Is Mr Trump there to show Judge Aileen Cannon that he is a willing participant in the process intent on clearing his name?

Judge Aileen Cannon is yet to set a date for Donald Trump’s trial on charges of mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House.

Mr Trump’s legal team and Special counsel Jack Smith have put forward competing dates for the start date.

While Mr Smith is asking the judge to set the trial commencing 8 July, Mr Trump’s attorneys have suggested 12 August.

Judge Cannon is yet to rule on the matter.

Steve Rattner, former head of the Obama administration’s Auto Task Force and Wall Street financier, brought his charts to Morning Joe today to fact-check Donald Trump’s claims about the state of the US national debt during his administration.

The former president claims that before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, the US was “going to start to pay off” its debt.

Not true, says Rattner. In reality, Mr Trump added $4.8 trillion to the national debt before the pandemic, and an additional $3.6 trillion during it…

Watch the clip from MSNBC this morning:

Brian Butler, a former Mar-a-Lago employee who has publicly identified himself as a witness in the classified documents case against Donald Trump, recounted how he unknowingly helped load boxes of those documents onto the former president’s plane on CNN’s The Source with Kaitlin Collins.

Mr Butler, a valet and manager at Mar-a-Lago, said that in June 2022 he and Walt Nauta, another former employee who is also a co-defendant in the case, loaded approximately 10 to 15 white banker’s boxes from a car to Mr Trump’s plane.

“I mean, we were just taking them out of the Escalade, piling them up. I remember they were all stacked on top of each other. And then we’re lifting them up to the pilot,” Mr Butler said.

In order to appeal the judgment in his civil fraud trial, Donald Trump must put up either cash or a bond for the amount of money he owes the state of New York.

Here’s what his lawyer Alina Habba told Newsmax on 20 February about the former president’s ability to pay:

And here she was on Wednesday on Fox News after a bond was posted for the E Jean Carroll defamation case:

He wrote on Wednesday that Chubb’s participation “has nothing to do with the underlying merits or with favouring any of the parties in the case”.

Mr Greenburg said the bond if “fully collateralized” though did not reveal which assets are being used as collateral.

“As the surety, we don’t take sides, it would be wrong for us to do so and we are in no way supporting the defendant. We are supporting and are part of the justice system plumbing included in this case,” the letter said. “When Chubb issues an appeal bond, it isn’t making judgments about the claims, even when the claims involve alleged reprehensible conduct.”

“I fully realize how polarizing and emotional this case and the defendant are and how easy it would be for Chubb to just say no. However, we support the rule of law and our role in it. We considered this the right thing to do and we frankly left our own personal feelings aside.”

A further letter from the company also clarified that while Mr Greenburg was appointed to a trade advisory panel by the former president in 2018, he also served on the committee under President Joe Biden.

Chubb is a global provider of insurance products and is the largest publicly traded property and casualty insurance company in the world.