A federal judge soon must make at least two key decisions that will set the stage for the historic Florida classified documents case against former President Donald Trump and his aide.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon held her first pretrial hearing in the case on July 18 in Fort Pierce, Florida. After listening to lawyers’ arguments about possible trial dates for about two hours, the judge said she would issue a written decision “promptly,” The Associated Press reported.
Later, Judge Cannon will be faced with a particularly pivotal issue at the heart of the allegations against Mr. Trump, which is how classified information will be allowed to be shared as the case unfolds.
Prosecutors requested that Judge Cannon set the trial to begin on Dec. 11.
But Mr. Trump’s lawyers want the judge to postpone the trial until sometime after the presidential election on Nov. 5, 2024. They argue that they need more time to prepare for the extraordinarily complex case. They also say that they doubt that their client can get a fair trial in advance of the election.
Effect of Candidacy Debated
Prosecutors, however, dispute the complexity of the case—the timeline of which goes back to January 2021, when Mr. Trump took the records with him as he left the White House. Prosecutors also argue that Mr. Trump’s presidential run shouldn’t affect the legal process.However, Mr. Trump asserts that he’s being targeted for prosecution precisely because he’s running a promising campaign for reelection to the office he held from 2017 to 2021. He’s the current frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination.
Protective Order Request
Another key aspect of the Florida case involves the prosecution’s written request for a protective order over the use of classified information.But the order would put special conditions on such information that defense lawyers are permitted to disclose to Mr. Nauta and Mr. Trump.
If approved, the order would apply to “all pre-trial, trial, post-trial, and appellate matters concerning classified information in this case.” That information includes “any document, recording, or information” that any executive branch agency classified as confidential, secret, top secret, “formerly restricted data,” or “sensitive compartmented information,” the document states.
It would also include “verbal or other unwritten or unrecorded information known to the defendants or the defense team.”
In the document, prosecutors list more than 30 different types of information-storage media that the order should cover, encompassing even antiquated “telegrams” and “typewriter ribbons,” along with computer-era devices such as thumb drives.
Further, under the prosecution’s proposed order, “information that is classified that also appears in the public domain is not thereby automatically declassified.” It must have been declared unclassified by “an official statement by a U.S. Government Executive Branch official” who possesses declassification authority.
Judge’s Other Rulings
In another recent action in the case, Judge Cannon refused to allow federal prosecutors to seal a list of 84 prosecution witnesses. Prosecutors wanted to prevent Mr. Trump from communicating with those people about the case. But Judge Cannon, in refusing to grant the prosecutors’ request, said that they gave no justification for withholding the names from public view. The judge also said that prosecutors failed to explain “why partial sealing, redaction, or means other than sealing are unavailable or unsatisfactory.”Judge Cannon came under fire almost immediately when authorities revealed that she'd been assigned to the Florida criminal case against Mr. Trump.
The former president had appointed Judge Cannon to the federal bench while he was in office, and critics point to her past controversial ruling in a separate but related aspect of the case.
The appellate judges said they were unable to “write a rule that allows any subject of a search warrant to block government investigations after the execution of the warrant.”
