Former President Donald Trump and his lawyers were ordered on June 19 not to share evidence in Trump’s criminal case with any people not involved in the case.
The materials will include testimony given by witnesses to the grand jury that approved the charges and other evidence prosecutors plan to present at trial.
The government said it was ready to provide unclassified materials to the defense, but that the disclosure of information could compromise ongoing investigations and make public the identity of people who haven’t been charged.
“As a result, the government proposes protections against the dissemination of discovery materials and the sensitive information that they contain,” special counsel Jack Smith said in the request.
Lawyers for Trump and Nauta didn’t oppose the motion, according to Smith. The lawyers didn’t respond to requests for comment.
More on Order
While Reinhart said that he may authorize the disclosure of information to certain people, lawyers for the defendants must take steps before disclosing information.Once a person is authorized to receive the information, the lawyers must give the person a copy of the June 19 order and the person must sign an agreement to not disseminate the materials he or she receives, Reinhart said.
The lawyers must keep a copy of each signed agreement.
“No disclosure is permitted to any individual or entity that has not signed such Agreement, except by further order of the Court. Potential witnesses and counsel for potential witnesses may be shown copies of the Discovery Materials as necessary to prepare the defense, but they may not retain copies without prior permission of the Court,” Reinhart wrote, adding that defendants must also not copy or reproduce the materials unless necessary to prepare for the trial.
Reinhart also ordered the defendants not to retain copies of the materials and said they can’t review the materials unless they’re “under the direct supervision of defense counsel or a member of defense counsel’s staff.”
The defendants can take notes while reviewing the materials, but even the notes have to be stored by lawyers, not the defendants themselves.
Violations of the order may result in being held in contempt of court or other sanctions, the judge said.
Trump was charged with 31 counts of violating the Espionage Act for keeping sensitive records and with six other counts for crimes such as obstruction and making false statements.
Prosecutors allege that Trump illegally failed to turn over records to the government after he left office on Jan. 20, 2021, and that he tried obstructing the investigation into the failure. Trump returned some records but not all of them, according to authorities. Trump is also accused of showing the documents to people who lacked security clearance, including a writer and publisher.
Nauta, a top Trump aide, assisted the effort by moving boxes and at one point falsely told FBI agents that he didn’t know where the boxes had been stored, according to an indictment.
Trump has said he is innocent. A lawyer for Nauta previously declined to comment on the charges.
Earlier Order
Trump is also facing felony charges in New York. In that case, the judge also ordered that Trump and his lawyers not disclose discovery materials before trial.Trump can’t provide such information to any third party or to “any news or social media platforms ... without prior approval from the court,” the order from acting New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan stated.
That order was granted after a request from Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan District Attorney.
Bragg’s office had argued in a court filing that Trump “has a longstanding and perhaps singular history of attacking witnesses, investigators, prosecutors, trial jurors, grand jurors, judges, and others involved in legal proceedings against him, putting those individuals and their families at considerable safety risk.”
