Feb. 12 (UPI) — Former President Donald Trump is in federal court in Fort Pierce, Fla., on Monday for a hearing over what classified information can be shared with his defense team in the case over his handling of materials after he left office.
Monday’s hearing is over the Classified Information Procedures Act, a federal law that requires the court to protect the discovery, disclosure and use of any classified information to a defendant in the interest of national security.
The hearing will take place over the course of two days. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, will hear from the former president’s defense team why certain classified information should be disclosed to them. Special counsel Jack Smith’s prosecuting team will argue in favor of keeping information sealed from the defense, instead only offering summaries of the information.
The hearing is not open to the public.
Trump, who is seeking the GOP nomination for re-election, has pleaded not guilty to the charges related to his alleged mishandling of more than 100 classified documents, including papers containing sensitive national security information, at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., after he left office.
Cannon ruled in favor of the former president in a court filing that was unsealed over the weekend, declining to protect the identities of witnesses who may testify against Trump.
The prosecution argued that disclosing the identities of potential witnesses, along with statements they made to the FBI or grand jury, would expose them to “significant and immediate risks of threats, intimidation and harassment, as has already happened to witnesses, law enforcement agents, judicial officers and Department of Justice employees whose identities have been disclosed in cases in which defendant Trump is involved.”
The prosecution complied with the ruling. The information submitted by the prosecution will be reviewed to ensure it meets the requirements of Cannon’s order before being unsealed to the defense.
The threats and intimidation Smith referred to have occurred across several cases involving Trump. Last spring, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office increased security after Alvin Bragg announced the indictment of Trump in a hush money case involving adult film actress Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels.
In August, a woman was arrested for a threatening call made to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan.
In December, the Colorado Supreme Court received a rash of threats and was the subject of violent rhetoric online after disqualifying Trump from its ballot.
Last month, New York State Judge Arthur Engoron received a bomb threat on the morning of closing arguments in the civil fraud case against Trump.
