Special counsel Jack Smith’s allegations that Donald Trump’s close aides obstructed the Justice Department’s investigation into his alleged mishandling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago will face their first major test during a hearing Friday.
Judge Aileen Cannon, the judge overseeing the criminal case in a Florida federal court, will examine the validity of the charges against the former president’s two co-defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira.
Even though Cannon won’t be considering any of Trump’s requests for the case’s dismissal Friday, how she responds to his co-defendant’s arguments about the obstruction charges will likely shape how the presumptive Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential election moves forward with his defense.
As Trump and his allies have argued he is being selectively prosecuted by the Biden administration, Smith and his supporters have argued that former president’s alleged efforts to obstruct the probe into classified documents taken from the Trump White House distinguishes this case from the other times former presidents and vice presidents have been investigated for their handling of sensitive government materials.
Nauta, who works as Trump’s personal valet, and De Oliveira, who has worked as property manager at Mar-a-Lago, are accused of conspiring to help Trump hide documents at the Florida estate after he left the White House and lying to the FBI in interviews about their alleged involvement in moving the documents.
Trump and his two co-defendants have pleaded not guilty to obstruction, and the former president has pleaded not guilty to crimes related to his alleged mishandling of classified and sensitive government information.
In court filings earlier this year, Nauta and De Oliveira asked Cannon to throw…
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