Special counsel Jack Smith and former President Donald Trump are at odds over a provision of a proposed court order that would prohibit Trump and his attorneys from speaking about classified information outside of a secure setting, according to new court filings.
Prosecutors working for Smith in the case against Trump said in a revised motion for a protective order that the issue was one of two disputes left after U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon denied Smith’s initial protective order last week, citing a need for “meaningful conferral” among parties involved.
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Smith's team argued in the new motion that classified information should only be discussed in sensitive compartmented information facilities, or SCIFs, and firmly shut down any suggestion otherwise.
Trump’s attorneys “expressed concerns regarding the inconvenience posed by this limitation and requested that Defendant Trump be permitted to discuss classified information with his counsel in his office at Mar-a-Lago, and possibly Bedminster,” prosecutors wrote, referencing locations of Trump's homes.
"The government is not aware of any case in which a defendant has been permitted to discuss classified information in a private residence, and such exceptional treatment would not be consistent with the law," they wrote.
The prosecutors emphasized that Trump should not be treated any differently than "any private citizen," underscoring their broader position that the former president is not exempt from following the law.
"There is no basis for the defendant’s request that he be given the extraordinary authority to discuss classified information at his residence, and it is particularly striking that he seeks permission to do so in the very location at which he is charged with willfully retaining the documents charged in this case," they wrote.
The second issue at hand, they said, was that Trump aide Walt Nauta, another defendant in the case, wanted personal access to classified information, to which prosecutors also objected.
They contended that, unlike Trump, the charges leveled against Nauta for obstruction of justice and false statements did not necessitate that Nauta have such access.
Protective orders are standard requests made to courts in federal cases involving classified information, as outlined in the Classified Information Procedures Act.
Smith's revised protective order proposal was filed Thursday, the same day he revealed a superseding indictment naming a third defendant and charging Trump with three additional crimes, including obstruction of justice for allegedly attempting to erase surveillance footage.
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Trump, the leading 2024 GOP candidate, blasted Smith over the news, saying in a statement, "Deranged Jack Smith knows that they have no case and is casting about for any way to salvage their illegal witch hunt and to get someone other than Donald Trump to run against Crooked Joe Biden."
Trump's and Nauta's attorneys have until Aug. 10 to issue responses regarding the protective order.