Insight into Defense Tactics Revealed in Trump’s Classified Document Filing

Lawyers for former President Donald Trump suggested elements of their defense in the criminal case charging him with retaining classified documents, stating in a motion filed Tuesday that they will dispute the prosecutors’ allegations that the estate where the records were stored was not secure.

The defense team also revealed in a comprehensive court filing that they are seeking communication between the Justice Department prosecution team and associates of President Joe Biden in the hopes of advancing their claims that the classified documents case is “politically motivated” and aimed at harming Trump’s 2024 campaign.

The brief, which asks a judge to compel special counsel Jack Smith’s team to turn over a trove of information, provides potential lines of defense in one of the four criminal cases Trump faces as he seeks to capture the Republican nomination. It combines legal analysis and political arguments, referencing Trump’s victory in the Iowa caucuses and denouncing the charges as “partisan election interference.” These statements seem intended to appeal to voters on the campaign trail as well as the judge presiding over the case.

“The Special Counsel’s Office has disregarded basic discovery obligations and DOJ policies in an effort to support the Biden administration’s egregious efforts to weaponize the criminal justice system in pursuit of an objective that President Biden cannot achieve on the campaign trail: slowing down President Trump’s leading campaign in the 2024 presidential election,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.

The White House has denied any advance knowledge of the FBI’s search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in August 2022. Attorney General Merrick Garland later appointed Smith as special counsel in an attempt to insulate the Justice Department from claims of political bias.

A spokesman for Smith declined to comment Tuesday night. Prosecutors will have a chance to respond to the filing and are likely to tell U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon that much of the material defense lawyers are seeking is not relevant to the case.

A June 2023 indictment charging Trump with dozens of felony counts alleges that investigators found boxes of sensitive documents stored at Mar-a-Lago in various spaces. Prosecutors have stated that the documents he kept, refused to return, and in some cases allegedly showed to visitors risked jeopardizing relations with foreign nations, as well as the safety of troops and confidential sources.

However, defense lawyers said in their motion that they intend to dispute allegations that “Mar-a-Lago was not secure and that there was a risk that materials stored at those premises could be compromised.”

They argued that prosecutors should be forced to disclose all information related to what they have previously described as “temporary secure locations” at Mar-a-Lago and other Trump properties. They contended that such evidence would refute prosecutors’ allegations because the Secret Service took steps to secure the residences and made arrangements for him to review and discuss classified information.

Trump’s lawyers also referenced what they said was an Energy Department action in June, after the charges were filed, to “retroactively terminate” a security clearance for the former president.

They demanded more information about that, stating that evidence of a post-presidential possession of a security clearance was relevant for potential arguments of “good-faith and non-criminal states of mind relating to possession of classified materials.”

The case is currently scheduled for trial on May 20, but that date might be pushed back.