Judge orders hearing to consider throwing out key evidence in Trump secret documents case

The federal judge overseeing Donald Trump’s secret documents case ordered an additional hearing Thursday to determine whether prosecutors improperly used evidence protected by attorney-client privilege to obtain an indictment against the former president.

In an 11-page ruling issued Thursday, Judge Aileen Cannon wrote that an additional hearing was necessary to resolve “significant factual disputes” related to key evidence in the case.

As ABC News previously reported, prosecutors cited notes from Trump’s former lead lawyer, Evan Corcoran, to support their allegations that the former president obstructed justice by hiding secret documents from investigators.

MORE: Trump expressed concerns that returning secret documents after subpoena could result in criminal charges, according to sealed memos

After a federal judge in Washington ruled last year that the notes were not protected by attorney-client privilege because Trump used his lawyer to commit a crime, defense attorneys asked Cannon to reconsider whether the evidence should be thrown out.

Judge Cannon wrote in Thursday’s order that she would set a trial date in a separate order.

The judge heard arguments on the defense’s motion to suppress evidence during a sealed hearing Tuesday morning. In Thursday’s order, she wrote that she took into account prosecutors’ concerns that the trial could “degenerate into a ‘mini-trial'” – but said she would impose “reasonable limitations” on the trial that could include witness testimony.

“(T)here is a difference between a resource-wasting and delay-inducing ‘mini-trial,’ on the one hand, and an evidentiary hearing designed to resolve disputed issues of fact and law in connection with a given pretrial motion to dismiss,” Cannon wrote.

Cannon said she also plans to consider whether the inclusion of a search warrant in connection with the FBI’s August 2022 search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate contained “ambiguities” about what evidence could be seized. Defense attorneys argued that terms like “presidential records” and “national defense information” were too vague for FBI agents who executed the warrant.

Handing prosecutors a narrow victory, Cannon separately denied a request for a hearing on whether the Mar-a-Lago search warrant application contained “material misrepresentations or omissions.”

Defense attorneys argued Tuesday that the warrant application omitted key details, including the fact that Trump does not need to have a security clearance to review classified documents, that an FBI supervisor disagreed on the need for a search warrant and that there was no definition of the word “personal documents”.

“(The defense) points to four omissions in the order, but none of the omitted information — even if added to the affidavit in support of the order — would have undermined the finding of probable cause,” Cannon wrote.

In a separate order issued Thursday, Cannon set a July 5 deadline for both sides to file additional briefs regarding the limited silence order that prosecutors are seeking against Trump.

Prosecutors asked a judge to bar the former president from making public statements that could pose a “serious, immediate and foreseeable threat” to law enforcement officials involved in the case.

MORE: Prosecutors say silence order is needed to stop Trump from inviting ‘act of violence’ against law enforcement

The delayed decision, made after Monday’s hearing on the matter, allowed Trump to participate in Thursday’s presidential debate without any restrictions on speaking about the Mar-a-Lago search.

On Tuesday, the judge overseeing Trump’s criminal silence case in New York also lifted part of a restricted speech ban to allow Trump to make statements about witnesses and the jury in that trial.

In the documents case, special counsel Jack Smith asked Cannon to modify Trump’s terms of release to limit his public statements about the search after a month of escalating rhetoric from the former president. Smith argued that Trump’s statements about the raid falsely suggested that law enforcement officials were “complicit in a plot to murder him.”

During Monday’s hearing, Cannon questioned prosecutors about the connection between Trump’s rhetoric and the behavior of his supporters, while also expressing concerns about the constitutionality of the motion.

Trump pleaded not guilty last year to 40 criminal charges related to his handling of classified materials after leaving the White House after prosecutors said he repeatedly refused to return hundreds of documents and took steps to thwart government efforts to recover them.

Trump has denied all allegations and denounced the investigation as a political witch hunt.

Judge orders hearing to consider dismissal of key evidence in Trump secret documents case originally appeared on abcnews.go.com