Trump Demands Judge Cannon’s Approval to Review Classified Evidence at Mar-a-Lago and Bedminster, DOJ says

Donald Trump is demanding the “exceptional” ability to inspect classified evidence that will be used during his upcoming criminal trial from inside his private clubs at Mar-a-Lago in South Florida and Bedminster, N.J., rather than in a secure facility designed specifically for that purpose, federal prosecutors revealed on Thursday.

“Defendant Trump’s personal residences and offices are not lawful locations for the discussion of classified information, any more than they would be for any private citizen,” prosecutor Jay Bratt, the Justice Department’s counterintelligence chief at the National Security Division, wrote in an eight-page motion for a protective order.

In essence, Trump appears to be requesting a court-sanctioned version of the conduct that prosecutors allege. The controversy came up during wrangling between Smith's team and lawyers for Trump and co-defendant over a protective order governing the sharing of evidence on the road to a trial next May in Fort Pierce, Fla.

Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith initially accused Trump in June of a 37-count indictment for dozens of violations of the Espionage Act, broadly his alleged mishandling, retention and storage of 102 documents with classified markings that the FBI seized from his storage room and office at Mar-a-Lago. Nauta originally faced a six-count indictment that included conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record and making false statements and representations to federal investigators.

Thursday's document about the protective order landed on the court’s docket shortly before Smith’s office filed a new superseding indictment against Trump and Nauta that piled on several additional charges and naming a new co-defendant: Mar-a-Lago maintenance worker Carlos de Oliveira.

The superseding indictment also introduced an unnamed ex-Trump employee, who appears to be a key witness to the former president’s alleged cover-up of his actions.

According to the government’s filing, Nauta himself has separate objections to the government’s proposed protective order. A Navy veteran, Nauta wants full access to classified information, even though the government says his security clearance has expired and he has no need to review it.

Unlike Trump, Nauta is “charged only with obstruction and false statement offenses related the movement and concealment of Defendant Trump’s boxes,” prosecutors note.

Preparations already are underway for their trial, including plans to construct a safe location — known as a secure compartmented information facility, or SCIF — for reviewing classified evidence near the modest federal courthouse in Ft. Pierce, which did not previously have one.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon revealed those plans in her scheduling order as an accommodation to the defense, but Trump’s legal team apparently wants an even more convenient alternative.

“Defendant Trump’s counsel objects to the provisions in the proposed protective order that require them to discuss classified information with their client only within a SCIF,” prosecutors wrote. 

Smith's team added: “They expressed concerns regarding the inconvenience posed by this limitation and requested that Defendant Trump be permitted to discuss classified information with his counsel in his office at Mar-a-Lago, and possibly Bedminster. The government is not aware of any case in which a defendant has been permitted to discuss classified information in a private residence, and such exceptional treatment would not be consistent with the law.”

'Extraordinary'

Given the nature of the case, the venue for reviewing national defense information is a significant issue.

“A significant portion of the classified discovery in this case, including the majority of the charged documents, includes SCI,” the filing states.

Prosecutors noted the similarity between the conduct Trump is charged with and the latitude he now seeks.

“There is no basis for the defendant’s request that he be given the extraordinary authority to discuss classified information at his residence, and it is particularly striking that he seeks permission to do so in the very location at which he is charged with willfully retaining the documents charged in this case,” Bratt added.

At a hearing earlier this month on July 18, Cannon temporarily denied the government’s request for a protective order so that the parties could negotiate a mutually acceptable one.

The latest filing suggests that the parties remain far from an agreement. 

According to Cannon's order on the trial schedule, Trump has until Aug. 9 to file its response on the protective of order, followed by an Aug. 14 deadline for the Justice Department to make any final written counter arguments. A hearing on the issue is scheduled for Aug. 25 in Fort Pierce, though Cannon has also said the conference is only on the books “if necessary.” 

Trump's attorney Todd Blanche didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.