Former President Donald Trump suffered two legal setbacks on Thursday. Judges dismissed his attempts to quash criminal charges related to his actions to overturn his 2020 election loss and his retention of classified records after his presidency.
What Happened: As per a Reuters report on Thursday, two separate judges dismissed Trump’s legal challenges. The first case is related to Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia, and the second involves his retention of classified documents post-presidency.
Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official and Trump ally, also faces potential disbarment after a Washington panel found he violated attorney ethics rules in his attempts to help overturn Trump’s loss.
These cases are part of the legal complications facing Trump, who has been criminally charged in four cases as he challenges Democratic President Joe Biden in the Nov. 5 election. The first-ever trial of a sitting or former U.S. president is set to commence in New York on April 15.
“It just shows that everything’s moving forward,” said Amy Lee Copeland, a former federal prosecutor in Georgia, according to the report.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, based in Florida, rejected Trump’s argument that the case accusing him of illegally holding onto classified documents should be dismissed on the grounds that they were his personal records rather than government property.
In another blow, a Georgia judge rejected Trump’s bid to dismiss criminal charges in the state’s 2020 election interference case against him, which Trump argued infringe his free speech rights.
Trump, who has labeled all four criminal indictments against him as politically motivated, still has several pending challenges to the documents case, including arguments that he has presidential immunity from prosecution and that he was selectively targeted by prosecutors.
Why It Matters: These developments follow a series of events that have been building up against Trump. In March, a Georgia state judge dismissed six of the 41 charges in the criminal case against Trump, leaving a key accusation intact.
Later in the same month, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis issued a stern warning that the metaphorical “train is coming” for Trump and his 14 co-defendants.
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