He argued in a 23-page filing that the matters at issue were fundamentally federal, not state, in nature. He cited Special Counsel Jack Smith's decision in late 2024 to withdraw federal charges against Trump after his return to office, saying: "If Special Counsel Jack Smith, with all the resources of the federal government at his disposal concluded that prosecution would be fruitless, then I too find that, despite the available evidence, pursuing the prosecution would be equally unproductive."