Lawyers for former President Donald Trump have asked for “attorneys’-eyes-only access” to prosecutors’ filings that seek to replace or even delete classified information from discovery in his federal classified documents case.
“The Court should be skeptical of boilerplate invocations of vague national security concerns and citations to factually distinguishable cases by the Special Counsel’s Office, particularly in light of the post-CIPA development of bodies of law under the Freedom of Information Act (‘FOIA’), in habeas proceedings, and in motions to suppress Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (‘FISA’) evidence, where parties are granted greater access to filings that summarize sensitive and classified information.”
President Trump, meanwhile, had been the “central classification authority in the United States” for four years when he was president, his lawyers said.
“This case presents such circumstances. For four years, President Trump acted on a public mandate to access the nation’s most sensitive secrets for the benefit of the country. He was the central classification authority in the United States,” their motion said. “Today, he is the leading candidate to assume that role again in 2025, despite politically motivated efforts by the Biden Administration to remove him from the election—including this case.”
Judge Cannon, they argued, should not take Mr. Smith’s “word for it” as he issues motions warning that the documents are highly sensitive classified materials.
“Further, in light of the Office’s record of misrepresentations and abuses of sealing and ex parte processes in this case, the Court cannot simply take the prosecutors’ word for it,” the motion also stated.
For weeks, defense attorneys and prosecutors have been battling over what classified materials that defendants are allowed to view. On Monday, Judge Cannon wrote that, in siding with the defense, “in light of the Special Counsel’s Response to Defendants Motion to Unseal 230, and mindful of the strong presumption in favor of public access to judicial documents, the Clerk is directed to unseal docket entries 223, 224, and 230.”
The special counsel’s team had previously asked that the filing be kept under seal because they had plans to delete “highly sensitive classified information” from discovery. He also issued a warning that “even disclosing” the “number of categories of classified information that the Government seeks to delete from discovery would reveal the contours and extent of the Government’s CIPA Section 4 motion.”
In a recent ruling in the classified documents case, Judge Cannon granted in part and denied in part the defense’s request to postpone deadlines, including the trial.
“Although the Special Counsel suggests that the mere filing of its motion for additional pages might ‘reveal the contours and extent of the Government’s CIPA Section 4 motion,’ because it indicates that ‘four categories of especially sensitive classified information’ will be addressed in the Section 4 motion, that bare reference, without more, is not a basis to deviate from the presumption against ex parte filings in our adversarial system of justice,” she wrote, in part.
The former president was charged earlier this year with improperly storing in his Florida estate sensitive documents, according to a sweeping felony indictment. President Trump has pleaded not guilty in the case, saying it’s part of a Democratic attempt to wound his political chances---coming as he continues to maintain a significant lead in Republican presidential primary polls.
He has also been charged by Mr. Smith’s team in Washington on counts related to alleged attempts to illegally overturn the 2020 election, and he faces similar state charges in Georgia. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has charged President Trump with allegedly falsifying business records toward the end of the 2016 campaign. The former president has pleaded not guilty to those charges, too.
In New York, President Trump is scheduled this week to testify in a New York civil fraud trial. In that case, he has also denied any wrongdoing while accusing the presiding judge, Arthur Engoron, and Democratic Attorney General Letitia James of being biased against him.
Judge Engoron has already ruled that the former president, the Trump Organization, and the other defendants are liable for fraud. But the trial is meant to determine penalties and resolve other legal issues contained in Ms. James’s lawsuit against the Trumps.
