(TargetLiberty.org) – On Wednesday, Florida District Judge Aileen Cannon issued an order detailing everything that former President Donald Trump and his legal team are able to do with the classified information they gain access to as part of the federal case relating to the mishandling of classified documents recovered from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
Trump was originally indicted on 37 counts in June relating to his alleged mishandling of classified documents after leaving the White House in 2021. As part of the charges against him, he is facing 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information as well as a number of other counts including conspiracy to obstruct justice, concealing documents during a federal probe, withholding documents and records, and false statements.
The Department of Justice’s investigation was led by Special Counsel Jack Smith, and as part of the probe the FBI raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home last August in order to recover over 100 classified documents. Trump has maintained that he is innocent and has committed no wrongdoings. He has also pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Florida U.S. District Judge Cannon wrote in her order that all of the classified documents and the information within them will continue to be considered classified unless there is clear proof that the documents had been declassified by either the department or agency that was initially responsible for the information within the document.
She added that the Defendant would be able to disclose the classified information to the defense as part of the discovery process so that the defense could prepare for the case. However, she explicitly noted that the information shared should only be used for the defense’s preparation.
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