“At its core is a document storage controversy that has spiraled out of control, with the government wrongfully seeking to criminalize the 45th president’s possession of his own presidential and personal records,” Trump’s lawyers wrote. “Restrict any outside review of what it considers ‘classified records.'”
U.S. District Court Judge Eileen M. They filed in response to a Justice Department request that Cannon temporarily suspend parts of his Labor Day order. A search of Trump’s club and residence was approved on August 8.
Federal prosecutors asked Cannon to hold off on his ruling that the FBI would not use more than 100 classified documents seized in the search until they had been reviewed by a special master, essentially an outside legal expert. The government asked Cannon to exempt it from outside review of classified documents, saying that requiring such a review would unnecessarily complicate national security issues in the high-profile case.
In their filing, Trump lawyers disagreed, accusing prosecutors of overstating national-security concerns and “no indication that any ‘classified records’ were disclosed to anyone.” The filing was made by four members of Trump’s legal team: Christopher Kiss, Lindsey Halligan, Evan Corcoran and James Trusty.
Trump’s lawyers argued that the government had not “proved” that items marked classified were in fact still classified. Part of their 21-page filing outlines the president’s authority to declassify documents, but doesn’t say Trump actually declassified the material before he left office. “There is no indication that the ‘classified records’ discussed were disclosed to anyone, the filing states.
The Washington Post reported that one of the documents seized by the FBI was A foreign government’s military defenses describe its nuclear capabilities, People familiar with the situation spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter. Some of the seized documents describe top-secret U.S. operations that are so closely guarded that many senior national security officials are kept in the dark about them.
Some of the more than 100 classified documents seized in August were marked “HCS,” the Justice Department said in court filings. Collected from confidential human sources. According to a government inventory filed in court, dozens of empty folders were classified, and the documents were marked secret, secret and top-secret.
“Government Argues President Trump Can’t Have Such Interest in ‘Classified Records,’ Trump’s Legal Team Filed . .”
Lawyers for the former president have also said the investigation of the documents should focus on the Presidential Records Act — the civil law that says presidential records belong to the government, not the individual president. Trump’s lawyers filed a filing saying that an interpretation of certain parts of the law indicates that Trump has an “absolute right of access” to his presidential records. They did not mention the criminal laws — including part of the Espionage Act — that the government alleges may have been violated by the possession or concealment of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump’s lawyers said recent coverage of the documents case shows the government has been selective and unfair when raising national security concerns, citing The Post’s report that the seized documents contained material related to a foreign country’s nuclear capabilities.
“The government is apparently unconcerned about unauthorized leaks regarding the contents of purportedly ‘classified records,'” the filing says.
Months before the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago, the National Archives and Records Administration and the Justice Department sought to turn over all White House and presidential documents in Trump’s possession.
In May, the government subpoenaed Trump, asking him for all of the more classified documents. The prosecution said all his lawyers had been sent back. But last month’s search yielded results An additional 27 boxes containing a mixture of individual items and classified and unclassified government goods.
This is a growing story. It will be updated.
