Judge Won't Dismiss Trump Docs Case, But Slightly Narrows Indictment

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Facts

• A federal judge on Monday narrowed special counsel Jack Smith's 53-page indictment against former Pres. Donald Trump — removing an incident of Trump showing a classified military map to a political adviser months after leaving office.¹
• Judge Aileen Cannon agreed to remove a paragraph about the incident but also refused the defense's request to dismiss some of the charges against Trump, who is accused of illegally retaining classified documents after his presidency.²
• Cannon called some of the indictment's language 'legally unnecessary,' adding that the prosecution added an 'extensive narrative account' to the charging documents. However, she refused to dismiss 10 of the 41 charges.³
• Trump is facing 40 counts, including the unlawful retention of information that was found at his Mar-a-Lago residence. He and two co-defendants — aide Walta Nauta and former Mar-a-Lago employee Carlos de Oliveira — are charged with planning to obstruct a federal investigation.⁴
• While Cannon has addressed the motion related to the map incident, there are still numerous pretrial motions to handle from Trump's team, including another motion to dismiss filed Tuesday.⁵
• The pretrial requests and disputes have slowed the progress of the case and forced Cannon to delay the trial from this spring to a later date that has yet to be determined.⁶

Sources: ¹New York Times, ²Associated Press, ³CNN, ⁴CBS, ⁵The Hill and ⁶FOX News.

Narratives

• Anti-Trump narrative, as provided by MSNBC. It's about time that Cannon ruled on something rather than continuing to push this trial further into the future. She was probably right to strike the incident from the indictment, especially since she seems willing to allow it to be submitted as evidence. But it's also time for her to stop her slow pace of this case so the American public can hear it sooner rather than later.
• Pro-Trump narrative, as provided by Daily Wire. Cannon is handling this fraudulent case at the right pace, allowing the public to see how desperately the Biden-led government wants to persecute Trump. Whether it's fabricated evidence or other wrongdoings by Smith's team, this case is nothing but an attempt by the Biden administration to hurt Trump's chances of winning the election — it should eventually be dismissed.

Predictions