Prosecutors are trying to protect witnesses in the Trump secret documents case
Prosecutors have asked a federal judge to protect the identities of several witnesses involved in the criminal case in which former President Donald J. Trump was accused of illegally keeping classified documents. They said that if their names were revealed before the trial, they could be exposed to “unbearable and unnecessary risks.” .”
“There is a well-documented pattern in which judges, officers, prosecutors and witnesses involved in cases involving Trump have been subjected to threats, intimidation and intimidation,” prosecutors wrote.
The request to protect the witnesses – filed court documents filed late Thursday night — came after Mr. Trump's legal team asked Judge Aileen M. Cannon, who is overseeing the case, for permission to name some witnesses in lawsuits it recently filed regarding arguments over discovery evidence.
Judge Cannon ultimately ruled in Trump's favor and said the witnesses could be identified. The government responded Thursday evening by accusing her of making a “clear error” and asking her to reconsider her decision and prevent the identities of more than 20 witnesses from being revealed.
The filing reflected what appeared to be a growing sense of frustration toward Judge Cannon among prosecutors working for the special counsel, Jack Smith.
The papers were filed just days before the defense and prosecution were set to meet in Federal District Court in Fort Pierce, Florida, to, among other things, resolve a highly unusual request by Mr. Trump's lawyers for access to a classified government file. discuss. regarding secret discovery evidence in the case.
Prosecutors have strongly opposed the request, saying it falls completely outside the normal rules governing the handling of classified material, set out in a federal law known as the Classified Information Procedures Act. Experts on the law say that if Judge Cannon were to grant Mr. Trump's request to see the secret filing, it would be an unprecedented expansion of the statute.
The filing on Thursday by Mr. Smith's team was just the latest attempt by prosecutors to ensure the well-being of people involved in the two federal cases brought against Mr. Trump. Many participants in the other case — in which Mr. Trump is accused of plotting to overturn the 2020 election — have also been threatened or harassed by Mr. Trump or his supporters, including Judge Tanya S. Chutkan and the Mr Smith. himself.
In another set court documents filed Wednesday eveningMr Smith's prosecutors said a separate criminal investigation had been opened to investigate social media threats against one of the potential witnesses in the documents case. Prosecutors did not identify the witness in their filing Wednesday night, nor did they provide additional details about the investigation in their follow-up filings Thursday evening.
Among the people prosecutors are trying to protect are “career officials and former close advisers” to Mr. Trump, prosecutors wrote Thursday evening. They told Judge Cannon that one of the witnesses was so concerned about the threats he might face from the “Trump world” that he refused to allow the government to record an interview he had with investigators fed.
Mr. Smith's team has not yet asked to impose a gag order on Mr. Trump in the classified documents case, as prosecutors did in the election subversion case. Still, prosecutors said in their filing Thursday evening that there was a “dangerous atmosphere” from the very beginning for witnesses and others involved in the secret documents case.
For example, prosecutors noted that after a magistrate judge, Bruce E. Reinhart, released documents related to the August 2022 search of Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump's private club and residence in Florida, FBI agents involved were involved in the event. were 'threatened and harassed'.
Prosecutors also pointed out that both Judge Reinhart and even Judge Cannon himself had been threatened. They specifically cited the case of a Texas woman who called Judge Cannon's chambers about a month after the Mar-a-Lago search and left a voicemail message threatening to shoot her.
The woman, Tiffani Gish, pleaded guilty in November to making the threats and is expected to be sentenced Friday in Federal District Court in Houston.
The government's declaration about the witnesses came shortly after the release of a report by another special counsel, Robert K. Hur, which found that President Biden deliberately retained and disclosed confidential material while out of office, but that criminal prosecution was not justified. .
Mr. Trump's lawyers are likely to use the report as fodder this month when they file a so-called selective prosecution motion, accusing prosecutors of unfairly charging Mr. Trump for much the same conduct.
Prosecutors have already lashed out at the former president's legal team for asking Judge Cannon to delay the deadline for filing some of his other preliminary motions in the case. On Thursday evening, prosecutors sent another set of papers to Judge Cannon opposing the delay and accusing Mr. Trump's lawyers of delaying the case and postponing the current May 20 trial date.
“The tactics they employ are ruthless and deceptive,” prosecutors wrote. “They will do everything they can to delay the review of the charges against them by a fair and impartial jury of citizens.”
Prosecutors seemed particularly incensed that Mr. Trump's lawyers said one of the motions they planned to file was one that would argue that the former president enjoyed immunity from charges in the case. But just days ago, a federal appeals court in Washington rejected that same argument in an effort to have the election subversion charge dismissed.
Filing the immunity claims, frivolous as they may be, would most likely result in the case being frozen with classified documents once the case is resolved. In fact, that's exactly what happened in the election interference case, which has been on hold for nearly two months as Mr. Trump's immunity arguments make their way to the Supreme Court.