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Donald Trump's lawyers waited 11 days to inspect classified documents found in the former president's Florida estate and are now accusing prosecutors of not producing the documents fast enough, Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith has complained to a federal judge.
"Despite defendant Trump's accusations, defense counsel was hardly in a rush to review the Government's latest production of classified discovery," Smith wrote in a document submitted to Federal Judge Aileen Cannon on Thursday. He added that Trump's lawyers have sought a delay in the case because they did not receive highly secure laptops. However, prosecutors gave them those devices last September, and they have used them to write lengthy court briefs since then.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges of illegally hoarding government documents and of obstructing the investigation. He is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential race. Several legal commentators say that he is trying to delay his criminal trials so that he can exonerate himself if reelected president. Newsweek has sought email comment from Trump's legal team.
The government has provided the defence with two Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities [SCIF] in which to review classified documents found in Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in south Florida.
An SCIF is a U.S. Department of Defense term for a secure room, which guards against electronic surveillance and suppresses data leakage of sensitive military and security information. Smith has not revealed the location of the defense SCIFs for security reasons but in this latest submission he states that they are "within a city block of each other in Miami".
Smith accused the Trump lawyers of delaying their arrival at the SCIFs after the government placed elaborate security protocols in place. This included sending couriers "from the intelligence community" to personally deliver some of the most-sensitive documents to the SCIF.
"Defense counsel waited 11 days, from October 6 until October 17, to receive the materials in the defense SCIF. The date on which defendant Trump's counsel began their review of the latest round of classified discovery—not including the special measures documents—was a result of their choice, not the Government's delay," Smith wrote in his latest submission.
He added that the Trump lawyers had sought a delay in the case because they did not receive highly secure laptops on which they could make court submissions about classified documents. The devices were required in which they were hacked or stolen and would contain information from classified documents.
In his court submission, Smith writes that it is misleading of Trump's lawyers to claim they did not receive the secure laptops. "In fact, the defense has been equipped since September with a classified laptop cleared for writing correspondence and pleadings concerning all classified materials except for the special measures documents, which comprise a small fraction of the overall classified discovery."
The special measures documents are the most sensitive of the documents allegedly found at Mar-a-Lago.
"The defense has made use of that laptop, submitting to the Court two classified filings, and addressing to the Government an 11-page classified letter with dozens of discovery requests," Smith writes.
"Regardless, the Government understands that four laptops have been approved for the defense's use in writing correspondence and pleadings related to the special measures documents.
"The defense's allegations about the Government's compliance with its discovery obligations are wrong, and its characterization of the discovery record is incorrect and misleading," he writes.
The federal indictment against Trump says that, for a two-month period between January and March 15, 2021, some of Trump's boxes of documents were stored in one of Mar-a-Lago's ballrooms. It adds that other classified documents were found in a storage room and other locations in Mar-a-Lago.
A picture included in the indictment shows boxes stacked in rows on the ballroom's stage. In one audio recording disclosed to the defense, Trump is quoted as saying: "Secret. This is secret information. Look, look at this."
Preet Bharara, a former federal prosecutor, said that Trump likely has three options to avoid his two federal trials: pardoning himself; appointing a favorable attorney general; or claiming federal immunity.
Speaking on his Spotify podcast "Stay Tuned With Preet" earlier this month, Bharara said that, just as the Sixth Amendment guarantees a defendant the right to a speedy trial, "the public and the government" should also expect a speedy trial, free from unnecessary delays.
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About the writer
Sean O'Driscoll is a Newsweek Senior Crime and Courts Reporter based in Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. law. ... Read more