Former President Donald Trump this week filed a motion to dismiss his classified documents case, claiming that officials altered exculpatory evidence. Prosecutors several weeks ago disclosed that the order of materials inside boxes of evidence was moved around. The “original order of documents within the boxes” was not preserved after they were obtained, the motion says.
“There are no photographs or logs documenting the nature in which the allegedly classified documents were commingled with personal effects and out of plain view,” his attorneys continued, adding that the evidence ”was materially exculpatory” about allegations that President Trump violated the Espionage Act. Prosecutors under special counsel Jack Smith, who brought the case, have not filed a motion in response to the latest allegations. Judge Cannon has so far declined previous attempts by the former president to dismiss the case, and she has not yet ruled on the June 10 motion.
“In fact, the documents in the boxes are not in the same order as when they were seized principally because the filter team made no effort to preserve the documents in that fashion,” former President Trump’s lawyers wrote. In May, Mr. Smith’s team confirmed that some evidence that was obtained from former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in 2022 was not in the same condition when it was found.
“There are some boxes where the order of items within that box is not the same as in the associated scans,” prosecuto.
