The Justice Department has opposed former President Donald Trump’s request to review and discuss classified documents with his lawyers at his Mar-a-Lago residence, “the very location at which he is charged with willfully retaining the documents charged in this case,” according to a new court filing.
After slapping additional charges on Trump over his handling of classified documents over his handling of classified documents, federal prosecutors filed a protective order. They propose that Trump and his attorneys should only view and discuss the documents in a secure facility known as a SCIF (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility).
“Since the conclusion of defendant Trump’s presidency, neither the Mar-a-Lago club nor the Bedminster club has been an authorized location for the storage, possession, review, display or discussion of classified information,” the filing reads. “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.”
Trump’s counsel objected to this arrangement, requesting permission for him to discuss classified information with his attorneys at his Mar-a-Lago office or possibly at Bedminster.
However, the government argues that “Defendant Trump’s personal residences and offices are not appropriate for discussing classified information and that there is no precedent for such exceptional treatment.
The filing also points out that Trump’s co-defendant, Walt Nauta, is not charged with unlawfully retaining classified documents, so he has no need to access classified information. The government acknowledges that Trump’s counsel may need to discuss classified documents for formulating their defense strategy but argues that it should be done in a secure facility.
“While defendant Trump is charged with violating [code section] by unlawfully retaining documents related to the national defense, defendant Nauta is not,” the government says in the filing. “Defendant Trump’s counsel may need to discuss classified documents with defendant Trump to formulate their defense strategy.”
The superseding indictment also includes a new co-defendant, Mar-a-Lago worker Carlos De Oliveira, who is accused of assisting in moving boxes and deleting security camera footage under Trump’s and Nauta’s instructions.
Both Trump and Nauta have pleaded not guilty to the initial charges in the documents case. The Trump campaign’s spokesman, Steven Cheung, claims that the new counts are part of an effort to damage Trump’s reputation as he seeks the Republican presidential nomination and dismisses them as politically motivated.
