Donald Trump’s defense team is arguing to Judge Aileen Cannon on Tuesday that the court-approved search warrant of Mar-a-Lago that the Justice Department obtained two years ago wasn’t specific enough and might have violated the former president’s rights.
In the third and final day of oral arguments in Fort Pierce, Florida, prosecutors and Trump’s attorneys are battling over whether the defense can suppress boxes of evidence seized by the FBI in the search of Mar-a-Lago in August 2022.
Trump’s attorneys have argued there are issues with the warrant that led to the FBI’s search of his Florida estate, including that information in the warrant application misled the judge who approved the order and that it didn’t detail internal discussions around the search.
Trump and his co-defendants, personal aide Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira, are facing charges of mishandling sensitive or classified materials and obstruction. All three have pleaded not guilty.
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Trump’s lawyer Emil Bove, like in other recent hearings in the classified documents case, wants the judge to hold even more hearings that could probe into the investigators’ work. But Cannon has had tough questions.
“We’re not talking about the search of a single-family home in the suburbs,” Bove said, explaining that the 50-plus-room property wasn’t approached specifically enough by the investigators when they told a court in 2022 they wanted permission to search for and seize classified documents.
“They purported to look for classified documents in a gym and a kitchen,” he added.
But Cannon challenged Bove’s complaints by pointing out there may not be legal issues with agents searching much of the property and finding documents in some rooms but not others.
“You would agree that paperwork, though, could be located anywhere,” the judge said.
Bove then argued the warrant left out information, such as the fact that Trump had received classified security briefings while president.
Cannon countered that the warrant was issued after his presidency.
“I’m failing to see why [that information] would have made any difference,” the judge said.
Investigators say they found classified documents in various places at the resort, including a public ballroom, bathroom and a bedroom.
Cannon is moving quickly through several of Trump’s arguments about the Mar-a-Lago search warrant. A closed-door portion of Tuesday’s hearing was sealed in the morning, but public arguments began at 1 p.m. ET.
Also at issue is Trump’s argument that prosecutors shouldn’t be allowed to use evidence from one of Trump’s former attorneys. The attorney, Evan Corcoran, was ordered by a judge in Washington, DC, to appear before a grand jury and turn over notes and memos.
Corcoran is a key witness for prosecutors, as his notes provided a roadmap when they indicted Trump. Corcoran is referred to as “Trump Attorney 1” in that indictment.