Special counsel asks Trump to go on trial in December over classified Mar-a-Lago documents
Prosecutors have called for a December trial against Donald Trump over the Mar-a-Lago classified documents, saying the new date would give the former president’s legal team time to obtain the necessary security clearance to process the documents. to view.
The judge overseeing the case, Aileen Cannon, tentatively set an August trial date on Tuesday.
She said at the time that she was open to requests to change it.
On Friday, the office of Jack Smith, the special prosecutor leading the investigation, called for a December 11 start.
They said it would give Trump’s legal team enough time to obtain the necessary security clearances to review the classified documents.
Jack Smith, the special counsel leading the prosecution of Donald Trump for mishandling classified documents, has requested a trial on December 11 on Friday
Donald Trump was advised by his lawyers for more than two years to return the documents, but refused. His trial now begins on December 11
Documents were kept all over Mar-a-Lago, including in this bathroom, where they were stacked in the bathtub
Smith said in the filing that the August 14 date set by Cannon was too early, and “would deny the defendant’s counsel or the government’s attorney the reasonable time necessary for effective preparation.”
Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon (pictured) has scheduled two weeks in August for the Mar-a-Lago documents jury trial. On Friday, that was pushed back to December by prosecutors
He added: “This case is not that unusual or complicated…because there are only two defendants, it involves simple theories of liability and does not raise any new questions of fact or law. However, the case does contain classified information and will require defense counsel to obtain the required security clearances,” the prosecutors wrote in the indictment.
“In addition, the associated legal process under the Classified Information Procedures Act will add additional time to the trial that would otherwise not be necessary.”
Trump’s team has yet to respond to the request.
Smith’s office also provided Trump and his co-defendant, Walt Nauta, on Friday with the names of 84 people with whom they are unable to discuss the case.
If they do, they could be detained for contempt of court or even detained.
Trump, who is seeking the Republican nomination for president in the 2024 election, was indicted last week in federal court in Miami, where he pleaded not guilty to 37 charges. to restore them.
The case will have to proceed under a strict and careful set of rules set out in a law known as the Classified Information Procedures Act, which aims to protect classified evidence and manage how such documents can be disclosed.
Donald Trump’s trial in the classified documents case was set to begin August 14: Jack Smith has now requested to begin December 11. Trump will be arraigned in Miami on June 13
Smith established a schedule leading up to the proposed Dec. 11 start of jury selection, including a Sept. 5 deadline for all defense discovery requests.
He said Trump’s lawyers have no objection to dropping the August 14 trial start date, but he expects them to file a motion against the prosecutor’s proposed timetable.
Friday’s filing is part of routine trial preparation.
Earlier this week, the administration provided copies of taped interviews Trump gave.
The government shared the information as part of the discovery process.
The 37-count indictment of the administration quotes directly from an interview with Trump — conducted at his club in Bedminister, New Jersey with a writer and publisher of former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows’ book.
That conversation contains key information in which Trump waves what he says is classified information as he discusses a plan to attack Iran.
According to the government’s response to the court’s discovery warrant, prosecutors “produced interviews of Defendant Trump by nongovernmental entities, which were recorded with his permission and obtained by the Special Counsel’s Office during the investigation of this case, including the July 21 , 2021 taped interview Defendant Trump gave to a publisher and writer cited in part in the indictment.”
Prosecutors have provided lawyers for former President Donald Trump with ‘interviews’ the former president conducted with ‘nongovernmental entities’
The documents found in Mar-a-Lago during the August raid, according to a Justice Department report
It further provides no information about the content of the interview, whether or not it comes from a traditional media entity.
Prosecutors also turned over “public statements by Defendant Trump, including those public statements cited in the indictment.”
That follows claims from legal experts that Trump may have admitted to key facts in the case during a Fox News interview interview in which he defended his behavior, even while claiming to have documents in his house, during a media tour in which he has repeatedly labeled government investigations as a “witch hunt.”
When asked in the interview why he was not handing over the documents the government requested, Trump replied that he was too busy.
“I had boxes,” he said.
“I want to search the boxes and get my personal things out. I don’t want to give that up [the Archives] yet. And I was very busy, as you’ve seen.’
The filing also lists witnesses for the government who will testify at the trial.
And it says Trump’s lawyers may contact prosecutors “to arrange inspection of unclassified items seized on August 8, 2022 at Mar-a-Lago” during an FBI search of the home of the president and the private golf club.
The two sides are involved in the discovery process, which requires prosecutors to share evidence they gathered on the defendant. Information about the indicted co-conspirator Walt Nauta has not yet been shared
The FBI also plans to use Trump’s own public statements as evidence
Trump did not speak to the federal grand jury that handed down the 37 count indictment.
However, his old body man and assistant Walt Nauta did. Some of his statements are included in the indictment, which charges Trump with willful withholding of national security information and charges the pair with conspiracy to conceal information from the grand jury and the FBI.
Prosecutors also turned over Nauta’s May 26 interview with the FBI and his June 21 testimony before the grand jury.
Nauta has scheduled an arraignment for next week.
Trump pleaded not guilty at his own arraignment in Miami, then flew to Bedminster and charged prosecutors in a speech.
Prosecutors also say they will reveal any promises of immunity or clemency — following a report in dailymail.com that it may be too late for Nauta to try to “flip” Trump and reach a cooperation deal with the administration.