Trump plans to defend docs case by saying he thought he still had high clearance: report

Lawyers for Donald Trump say there's evidence that he was acting in “good-faith and non-criminal states of mind” when he took classified materials from his time as president to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, The Washington Post reported.

Trump's lawyers asked Judge Aileen M. Cannon to force prosecutors to divulge more information about communications between prosecutors and the Biden administration, which they say shows the charges to be politically motivated. They also want prosecutors to show evidence that Trump's possession of the materials was a threat to national security.

From The Washington Post: "Among the more specific possible defenses: Lawyers for Trump say he had an active security clearance years after leaving the White House, based on a government document from June 2023 that still listed him with a 'Q' clearance from the Department of Energy. The document was dated a few weeks after prosecutors indicted Trump in the case."

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Trump attorneys say they do not know all the details about the Department of Energy filing and asked the judge to force prosecutors to reveal more about the "Q" clearance, which is a type of clearance that is handled by the agency. Classified information from the agency usually deals with nuclear secrets.

"It became popular in right-wing conspiracy circles because of the movement known as QAnon, which originated during Trump’s presidency and centers on made-up claims circulated by a person known as 'Q', who supporters claimed had that level of clearance," according to The Post.

While Trump's attorneys do not say the clearance allowed for Trump to take the materials, they say it speaks to his state of mind that he had no ill intent.

They say the Department of Energy tried to hide an "inconvenient truth" by removing Trump's name from the clearance lists just weeks after he was indicted.

Read the report at The Washington Post.