Judges in Florida and DC Trump Cases Take Very Different Directions With Classified Records Rulings

Within minutes on Wednesday, the judges overseeing the two federal criminal cases against former President Donald Trump in Florida and Washington, D.C. issued starkly different orders on the handling of classified records in their respective proceedings.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the election-subversion case against Trump in Washington, D.C. sided with Special Counsel Jack Smith in a ruling on a motion by prosecutors asking to provide only summaries of certain classified records during discovery. That's the legal term for the process of exchanging records and information between parties prior to a trial.

Chutkan ruled that prosecutors in the D.C. case are "authorized to withhold from discovery the classified information specified in its motion, and to provide the unclassified summary substitution specified in its motion to the defense."

Her order came in response to a motion filed by Smith that was sealed, concealing from the public record the description of the classified nature at issue.

"Based on its review of the withheld materials, and its discussion with defense counsel during a recent ex parte hearing, the court finds that the government’s proposed summary of the classified information for substitution adequately describes any content of the withheld materials that could be considered relevant and helpful to the defense," Chutkan wrote.

Chutkan on Wednesday also denied a motion by Trump's legal team requesting access to Smith's sealed motion.

Trump is charged in the D.C. case with four federal felonies alleging he obstructed the 2020 presidential election and has pleaded not guilty to all charges. His trial is scheduled to begin on March 4, the day before Super Tuesday when 14 states vote including California, Colorado, North Carolina, Texas and Virginia.

Just minutes prior to Chutkan's order going onto the docket, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon filed a separate order on another classified records issue in her South Florida proceedings, where Trump is accused of willfully retaining national security records at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

Cannon, finding that arguments by Smith's office "lack merit," reaffirmed the protective orders regarding classified information that were previously issued in the case.

Cannon's order applies primarily to Trump's two co-defendants in the case, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira. Federal prosecutors had sought a protective order preventing Nauta and De Oliveira from reviewing classified discovery material in the case unless their lawyers could show it was justified.

Trump was indicted in June on federal charges in South Florida for alleged willful retention of sensitive national security information at his Mar-a-Lago resort. After a superseding indictment in late July related to alleged obstruction efforts, Trump is now facing 40 felony charges in the case. A federal trial is scheduled to begin May 20, 2024.