U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon largely sided with special counsel Jack Smith in a battle to shield certain information from former President Trump’s legal team as they prepare for trial in his documents case.
The Classified Information Procedures Act allows prosecutors to redact or summarize some elements of classified discovery before its turned over to defendants.
Cannon mostly approved the Justice Department’s request to do so, but held off on making a decision on some documents at issue in the Mar-a-Lago case.
“No classified information not already agreed to be released by the Special Counsel shall be disseminated as a result of this unclassified Order,” Cannon wrote.
The order allows prosecutors to make limited redactions on some after-action reports, and also allows them to submit a summary of documents related to potential government witnesses. Smith is also permitted to hold back some documents that weren't deemed to be relevant or helpful to Trump’s request.
But Cannon said it would take additional hearings to determine whether two sensitive intelligence reports related to one of the documents Trump is charged with taking should be withheld during discovery, as well as a few of the after-action reports.
The ruling comes amid broader scrutiny of Cannon’s handling of the case after she issued a ruling earlier this week asking both parties to draft proposed jury instructions that would include a key Trump defense that the documents in question could be considered his personal property under the Presidential Records Act.
That argument has been widely rejected by legal experts who say the law is clear that classified documents could in no way be construed as Trump’s personal property.
Cannon has also yet to rule on a number of motions from Trump seeking to toss the case and has not set a new trial date after both parties suggested delaying the May trial. Trump has proposed shifting the trial to after the election while Smith suggested a July trial.
