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Donald Trump's lawyers want to use classified documents while cross-examining witnesses in his election fraud trial, court submissions have shown.
Trump's lawyers have already told Washington, D.C.-based Judge Tanya Chutkan that they want to use classified documents to show that there was attempted interference in the 2020 election by Russia, Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and that Trump tried to stop it.
In a cryptically written filing on Tuesday, Trump lawyers Todd Blanche and John Lauro say they need the classified documents during witness testimony or while questioning others about those witnesses.
They informed Chutkan that they would use the documents "during questioning of one or more individuals referenced in the document should any of them testify at the trial, or during questioning of other trial witnesses regarding those individuals."
The lawyers couldn't get into detail in the submission because all classified document requests must be handled through a system that is not accessible to the public.
They were referring to documents that chief prosecutor Jack Smith handed over to the defense on November 8 via a classified documents specialist. Trump's lawyers reviewed the documents and must now make an application in court to use them when he goes on trial next March. That application to use the documents at trial is likely to be opposed by Smith's office.
Newsweek reached out to Trump's lawyers via email for comment on Wednesday.
The former president, who is currently the front-runner for the 2024 Republican nomination, was indicted on four counts in August for allegedly working to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the run-up to the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges, including conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding.
His lawyers want to use the classified documents in court to show that he was trying to save the 2020 election from foreign interference, in contrast with prosecution claims that he was trying to illegally interfere in the election.
Under federal rules, all motions that reference classified documents have to be submitted to a Classified Information Security Officer to ensure their secrecy.
Trump's lawyers made Tuesday's application under Under Section 5 of the Classified Information Procedures Act, which states that a defendant who "reasonably intends to disclose classified information" must "provide timely pretrial written notice of his intention to the Court and the Government."
Section 5(a) requires that such notice "include a brief description of the classified information" and must be "particularized and specific," according to a Justice Department synopsis of the CIPA.
In a separate disclosure motion on Monday, Trump's legal team informed Chutkan that they seeking classified documents in relation to possible foreign interference in the 2020 presidential election by Russia, China, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela and Hezbollah, which is closely linked to Iran.
On October 26, Trump's lawyers submitted notice to Chutkan that Trump wishes to obtain "classified information at trial relating to foreign influence activities that impacted the 2016 and 2020 elections, as well as efforts by his administration to combat those activities."
"President Trump will also present classified information relating to the biased and politicized nature of the intelligence assessments that he and others rejected during the events in question," their submission reads.
It also states that his legal team has already alerted the Classified Information Security Officer to inform them that Trump will need classified documents at trial.
His legal team's submission says that, between the classified information on foreign interference and the classified information on biased intelligence reports, "this evidence will undercut central theories of the prosecution and establish that President Trump acted at all times in good faith and on the belief that he was doing what he had been elected to do."
The submission noted that Smith had argued in legal submissions earlier in October that "the classified discovery issues" in this case are "limited," "tangential," "narrow," and "incidental" because "the charges...do not rely on classified materials."
"The Indictment in this case adopts classified assessments by the Intelligence Community and others that minimized, and at times ignored, efforts by foreign actors to influence and interfere with the 2020 election," Trump's lawyers wrote.
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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