New Trump Case Evidence to Be Unsealed, Jack Smith Says

It’s not clear what the files will contain or when they will be released to the public.

Special counsel Jack Smith (L) in Washington on Aug. 1, 2023. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images); Former President Donald Trump. David Dee Delgado/Getty Images

New files will be released in former President Donald Trump’s classified documents case in Florida after defense attorneys reached an agreement with special counsel Jack Smith’s team.

Mr. Smith filed a status report on the agreement on Monday.

“The parties hereby file this joint status report providing the parties’ positions ... regarding the unsealing of filings,” the Smith team wrote. “The Government has conferred with counsel for all defendants, and all parties are in agreement as to the positions below,” it added before listing eight documents that can be unsealed in the case.

It means that eight documents will be available to the public once they are unsealed. Some of them will be redacted to protect witnesses’ identities and other sensitive information, according to prosecutors.

Previously, Mr. Smith had argued in court papers that the names of witnesses should not be disclosed.

The nature of the documents or what information they contain was not disclosed in the Monday filing. It’s also not clear when they will be released to the public.

The filing comes a day after U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon wrote that she was “disappointed” in Mr. Smith’s team in how they are applying “sealing and redaction rules” in the case.

“The sealing and redaction rules should be applied consistently and fairly upon a sufficient factual and legal showing,” she wrote. “And parties should not make requests that undermine any prior representations or positions except upon full disclosure to the Court and appropriate briefing.”

At the same time, Judge Cannon rejected President Trump’s request to redact several witness statements from previous motions. She also accepted the special counsel’s arguments that there be continued confidentiality in how the court handles grand jury materials.

In the Florida case, President Trump faces dozens of felony counts accusing him of illegally hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago property that he took with him after he left the White House in 2021, and then for allegedly obstructing the FBI’s efforts to get them back. He has denied wrongdoing in the case.

Earlier in May, the judge wrote in court papers that she would postpone the trial due to a myriad of legal disputes surrounding how to handle classified evidence at the heart of the case. There were eight pending motions before her, she noted, adding that it will take until July to resolve.

The judge did not set a later trial date, and a number of legal analysts and former prosecutors suggested the trial likely will not occur before the November election. If President Trump—the presumptive Republican nominee—wins in 2024, he could move to end Mr. Smith’s investigation or pardon himself.

Several weeks ago, prosecutors wrote in a filing that it appeared some materials inside an evidence box had moved around, prompting claims from the former president that the special counsel’s office may have tampered with it.

“Since the boxes were seized and stored, appropriate personnel have had access to the boxes for several reasons, including to comply with orders issued by this Court in the civil proceedings noted above, for investigative purposes, and to facilitate the defendants’ review of the boxes,” Mr. Smith’s team told Judge Cannon in early May.

Status of Other Cases

The former president faces 2020 election-related charges in Fulton County, Georgia, and Washington, and is currently standing trial in New York City on charges that he allegedly falsified business payments.

In the Washington election case, the U.S. Supreme Court is weighing the former president’s argument that he is immune from federal prosecution. Earlier this year, the federal judge overseeing the case placed it on an indefinite hold until the appeals process plays out.

The case in Fulton County, meanwhile, has been effectively derailed amid allegations that District Attorney Fani Willis engaged in a relationship with her former special counsel, while the former president recently filed a notice of appeal to the Georgia Appeals Court to have Ms. Willis disqualified.

In New York, the former president’s lawyers on Tuesday rested their case in the trial in which he is accused of falsifying business records toward the end of the 2016 election. The judge in that case, New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, has said that closing arguments will likely begin after Memorial Day.

The jury was sent home by the judge until May 28, when closing arguments are expected, but the attorneys will return Tuesday to discuss how the judge will instruct jurors on deliberations.

On Tuesday, President Trump did not stop to speak as he left the courthouse and did not respond to a question about why he wasn’t testifying. For the past several weeks, President Trump has had to spend most of his days in court while the trial is ongoing, which he’s said is an attempt to keep him from campaigning for the 2024 election.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.