New Donald Trump Trial Evidence to Be Unsealed
Donald Trump arrives for a press conference at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate on April 12, 2024, in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump has been indicted for allegedly hoarding classified documents at the estate.
New files are to be released in Donald Trump's classified documents, following months of wrangling between prosecutors and defendants.
Although all eight files will be available to the public, each will be censored to hide the names of witnesses.
Prosecutor Jack Smith had insisted in several court files that witnesses should not be identified because of intimidation by Trump supporters in other cases in which the former president is involved.
Trump had strongly opposed censorship, as had his two co-accused.
Cannon is overseeing the case, in which Trump is accused of illegally retaining classified documents, hoarding them at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and obstructing attempts by federal officials to retrieve them.
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has pleaded not guilty to the charges. He has denied any wrongdoing in the case and has said the documents he retained were personal.
Smith's filing on Monday shows that prosecutors and Trump's defense lawyers have now reached an agreement on what censorship should be included in the documents.
It also shows that one document will be censored so that the location of Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities (SCIFs) is not revealed. SCIFs are special rooms where classified documents can be viewed and include special anti-hacking and anti-bugging equipment.
Both sides in the case have been using SCIFs to view the classified documents that FBI agents recovered from Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
Although their location will be censored in the documents, previous court filings revealed that they are located somewhere in downtown Miami.
Newsweek sought email comment from Trump's attorney on Tuesday.
On Monday, Smith notified Judge Aileen Cannon in writing that "both parties hereby file this joint status report providing the parties' positions...regarding the unsealing of filings."
"The Government has conferred with counsel for all defendants, and all parties are in agreement as to the positions."
All of the documents can be sealed but all will protect "witness names" and "ancillary names."
The exact contents of the documents has not been revealed in the filing, nor is there an agreed date for their release.
In early May, Cannon, a Trump appointee, announced that she would indefinitely postpone the trial, citing legal disputes around classified evidence. Cannon said there were eight outstanding substantive pending motions for her to rule on and predicted this will take until at least late July.
Cannon's ruling effectively spoiled Smith's effort to start the trial before the November election, a priority for Democrats and even some Republicans who say they would like to know the outcome of the cases against Trump before they vote.
It is unknown whether the case will begin before the November 2024 presidential election.
If elected, Trump has a number of options to kill the trial, including pardoning himself or appointing a favorable attorney general to drop the charges.
Related Articles
Start your unlimited Newsweek trial