U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon denied former President Donald Trump’s motion to dismiss an indictment alleging he mishandled classified documents, based on the Presidential Records Act.

“Bound by the four corners of the Superseding Indictment,” the charges in the indictment “make no reference to the Presidential Records Act, nor do they rely on that statute for purposes of stating an offense,” the judge wrote in an April 4 order.
President Trump brought a total of four motions to dismiss charges in this case on different bases, and the judge heard oral arguments on two of the motions last month. Hours after the hearing, she denied the motion to dismiss based on unconstitutional vagueness.

The Presidential Records Act defense was also argued at the March 14 hearing, with the judge expressing skepticism that the challenge was being brought in the appropriate form.

President Trump is being charged under a law that makes it illegal to have unauthorized possession of documents related to national defense. The Presidential Records Act does not make any mention of how national defense or classified information should be treated.

Judge Cannon had said that those arguments—which she interpreted as a dispute of facts—should be made in connection with jury instructions.