Donald Trump wants to talk about classified documents at the heart of his criminal case in Florida with his lawyers at his private residences in Palm Beach and New Jersey, a request that prosecutors oppose.
(Bloomberg) — Donald Trump wants to talk about classified documents at the heart of his criminal case in Florida with his lawyers at his private residences in Palm Beach and New Jersey, a request that prosecutors oppose.
In a court filing Thursday, Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team laid out a proposal for safeguarding sensitive national defense information as the federal prosecution against Trump moves forward in a Florida federal court. They wrote that they would agree to give Trump access to classified material without him needing special approval, but he could only discuss it in a secure location known as a sensitive compartmented information facility, or SCIF.
Trump’s legal team “expressed concerns regarding the inconvenience” of forcing Trump to meet in a SCIF, prosecutors wrote. The defense instead asked that he be allowed to discuss the evidence in an office at his Mar-a-Lago resort, where he also lives, and possibly his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, — his summer home — according to the filing.
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Prosecutors wrote that they weren’t aware of any case where a defendant was allowed to do what Trump was asking for and that “such exceptional treatment would not be consistent with the law.”
“There is no basis for the defendant’s request that he be given the extraordinary authority to discuss classified information at his residence, and it is particularly striking that he seeks permission to do so in the very location at which he is charged with willfully retaining the documents charged in this case,” the government said.
Trump is due to file a response by Aug. 9. A spokesperson for the former president didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
The latest fight comes as prosecutors on Thursday secured a new, expanded set of charges against Trump. The superseding indictment adds allegations that he tried to obstruct the government’s investigation into his handling of state secrets after leaving the White House, and adds an additional document to the list of classified material prosecutors allege he unlawfully held onto.
Earlier this month, prosecutors indicated they might try to restrict Trump’s access to classified evidence — his lawyers are in the process of applying for security clearances — but said in the Thursday filing that they would no longer ask for that.
The government does want US District Judge Aileen Cannon to limit the access of Trump’s co-defendant and personal aide Waltine “Walt” Nauta. Nauta’s lawyers will be able to view classified evidence once their clearances are squared away, but prosecutors asked to keep control over Nauta’s ability to see it. They argued that unlike Trump, Nauta wasn’t facing charges related to the contents of the documents, only that he conspired with Trump to obstruct the investigation.
Nauta’s lawyer can also file a response by Aug. 9. The government’s filing on Thursday doesn’t address the newest defendant added earlier in the day in the superseding indictment, Carlos De Oliveira.
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