The judge in Donald Trump‘s classified documents case is traveling to a secure room on Tuesday for a confidential meeting with lawyers about what top-secret government files can be shared in the case.
After meeting with Trump’s lawyers and Department of Justice lawyers separately on Monday, Judge Aileen Cannon will hear on Tuesday from lawyers for Trump’s two co-accused, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, who are accused of moving boxes of classified documents at Trump’s request.
Nauta and De Oliveira are themselves not allowed to attend, as the meeting will involve discussion of highly classified government documents.
“Defendant Trump is not required to appear. Counsel for Defendant Trump may attend,” Cannon’s order states.
Donald Trump arrives at the National Rifle Association presidential forum at the Great American Outdoor Show on February 09, 2024 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Trump’s lawyers are expected to attend a closed door meeting in Florida with the judge in his classified documents case. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Department of Justice prosecutor Jack Smith and his attorneys are also allowed to attend the meeting, which begins at 10.30 a.m. on Tuesday in the secure room in Miami.
“Cleared counsel shall be prepared to discuss the classified information produced in classified discovery in the context of the ‘relevant and helpful’ standard” and “present argument on the Special Counsel’s request to withhold all of that information from Defendants Nauta and De Oliveira” and to “discuss specifics with respect to the current figures of materials produced in classified discovery, including whether any of that information overlaps with unclassified discovery and/or merits clarification.”
“This hearing will be held in a facility suitable for the discussion of classified information,” Cannon’s order adds.
The court previously heard that the Department of Justice has set up two secure rooms in Miami where classified documents found at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate can be viewed by Trump’s lawyers and by Smith and his team.
The rooms have special anti-bugging technology installed and no cell phones are allowed inside.
The meeting is being held because all three defendants are seeking classified documents that are covered by the Classified Information Procedures Act.
Section 4 provides that “[t]he court, upon a sufficient showing, may authorize the United States to delete specified items of classified information from documents to be made available to the defendant through discovery under the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, to substitute a summary of the information for such classified documents, or to substitute a statement admitting the relevant facts that classified information would tend to prove.”
Trump and his co-accused will be seeking less deletion of words and sentences in the documents, the prosecutor will be seeking more, and Judge Cannon will decide how the documents will ultimately be censored before being handed over to Trump’s legal team.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 40 federal charges of retaining classified materials and then obstructing federal attempts to retrieve them from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. The frontrunner in the GOP primary denies all wrongdoing, and has repeatedly said that the charges are part of a politically motivated witch hunt to stop him winning the 2024 election. Nauta and De Oliveira also pleaded not guilty.
Newsweek sought email comment from Trump’s attorney on Tuesday.
On Thursday, Smith accused Cannon of making a “clear error” when she allowed that other documents be handed over to Trump’s team. He said in filings that the move would reveal the identities of numerous potential witnesses, as well as potentially exposing them to “significant and immediate risks of threats, intimidation, and harassment.”
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.