Federal Judge Aileen Cannon, who is overseeing former President Donald Trump’s secret documents case, has just denied one of a series of defense motions to dismiss many of the charges against him, according to a new order issued late Monday afternoon.
Cannon, however, agreed to strike one paragraph from the indictment, even though it is not related to any specific charge in the indictment.
In her order, Cannon agreed with Trump’s team that “most of the language” in special counsel Jack Smith’s indictment of Trump and his two co-defendants “is legally unnecessary.”
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He then points to “the risks that may arise from a prosecutor’s decision to include in the charging document a lengthy description of his position on the facts, especially in matters of public interest.”
Last June, Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 charges related to his handling of classified materials after prosecutors said he repeatedly refused to turn over hundreds of documents containing classified information, from U.S. nuclear secrets to the country’s defense capabilities, and took steps in order to thwart government efforts to recover the documents.
Judge Aileen Cannon rejects Trump’s bid to dismiss the charges contained in the secret documents. The indictment originally appeared on abcnews.go.com