He isn't ignoring the PRA. He explains in detail in his response why it's completely irrelevant to this case. He also notes--and if you read it you'd know this--that Trump's own lawyers didn't believe the PRA was relevant even after they were alerted to it. They've only come around to this "look over there" approach to a legal defense because they don't have anything better to work with. Cannon is playing along because she's a Trump stooge. At this point Smith is just trying to force her to allow him to appeal up the ladder, where the 11th circuit has already shot her down in humiliating terms once before.

My short answer on the criminal activity is that as soon as he wasn't President he wasn't authorized to possess the documents. It became willful and worthy of prosecution later when he took conscious steps to hide that he had them despite repeated requests and a subpoena. I'll refer you to Smith's highly detailed record of the chain of events in the indictment.
[Post edited by CMUHoo at 04/03/2024 11:05AM]