Amid Trump New York trial, codefendants ask Florida judge to drop Mar-a-Lago documents case

FORT PIERCE — Two days after jury selection in Donald Trump's classified documents trial was once scheduled to begin, the judge overseeing the case will instead hear more arguments over whether to drop the charges entirely.

Trump, currently on trial in New York over alleged hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels, will not attend Wednesday's hearing. In his stead, attorneys representing the former president and his codefendants gathered in a Fort Pierce courtroom at 10 a.m. to discuss two motions to dismiss the case.

They are among several unresolved pretrial issues that prompted U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to postpone the trial indefinitely this month. The motions, which have succeeded in stretching out pretrial proceedings but not yet in beating the charges, target investigators' methods and motivations.

Mar-a-Lago boxes: Trump codefendants want out of classified documents case, say they had 'no clue' what was in boxes

The first motion Cannon will consider Wednesday, filed by Trump's codefendant Waltine Nauta, maintains that he was charged only because of his refusal to cooperate with federal investigators — not because of allegations that he schemed with Trump to conceal boxes of classified documents.

Special Counsel Jack Smith called the claim “meritless,” “flat-out false” and “deeply flawed," reviving language he's used to describe many defense filings.

The second motion at issue Wednesday, co-signed by all three defendants, pinpoints language throughout the indictment that the defense attorneys say is vague, ambiguous and in violation of the men's rights.

Trump faces dozens of felony charges, including willful retention of national defense information and conspiring to obstruct justice. He has denied any wrongdoing.

His co-defendants Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira have also pleaded not guilty to all charges against them. Smith has accused Nauta and De Oliveira, a property manager at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, of trying to erase security video and making false statements to prosecutors.

Hannah Phillips is a journalist covering public safety and criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hphillips@pbpost.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Judge Cannon to hear more argument in Trump's classified documents case