(The Center Square) – A federal judge ordered all the lawyers involved in former President Donald Trump’s classified documents case to get in touch with the Litigation Security Group of the U.S. Department of Justice.
U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, made the order Thursday to speed up the process that involves attorneys being cleared to get access to the classified documents. The attorneys must file a Notice of Compliance no later than June 20, according to the judge’s order.
The Litigation Security Group “is a team of security specialists available to be detailed to the Court to serve as Classified Information Security Officers to assist in the handling and protection of classified information. These CISOs serve in a neutral capacity providing advice and assistance to the Court and the parties in the handling of classified information,” according to a U.S. Courts website.
The judge’s order highlights some of the potential hurdles of a high-profile case involving classified material.
Trump pleaded not guilty Tuesday in a federal courthouse in Miami to 37 counts that allege he kept sensitive military documents, shared them with people who didn’t have security clearance, and tried to get around the government’s efforts to get them back. He is charged with 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information along with conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record, corruptly concealing a document or record, concealing a document in a federal investigation, scheme to conceal and false statements and representations.
Trump remains free on a recognizance bond without travel restrictions.
The 49-page indictment laid out the charges against Trump and Nauta. Trump was charged with keeping classified documents after leaving office and later obstructing the government’s efforts to get them back. The indictment contains specific dates and times with to-the-minute details of where the documents were stored, where they were moved, and who was involved.
Among the records were 197 that contained classified markings, including 98 marked “secret” and 30 marked “top secret.” The “top secret” designation means that unauthorized disclosure “reasonably could be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage” to national security,” according to the indictment. Trump turned those records over to the National Archives and Records Administration on Jan. 17, 2022, in response to demands from that federal agency.
On June 3, 2022, an attorney for Trump provided the Federal Bureau of Investigation with 38 additional documents with classified markings. And during a raid of Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8, 2022, the FBI recovered 102 additional documents with classified markings.
While the U.S. Secret Service provided security to Trump while he was at his Palm Beach property, Trump never told the agency that classified documents were stored there, according to the indictment. Mar-a-Lago hosted 150 social events – such as weddings, fundraisers and movie premieres for tens of thousands of guests from January 2021, when Trump left office, through the FBI raid on Aug. 8, 2022. Mar-a-Lago had about 150 employees during that time, prosecutors said in the indictment.
Prosecutors allege the documents belong to some of the nation’s most secret agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Defense, the National Security Agency, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, National Reconnaissance Office, the Department of Energy and the Department of State.
The documents contained information regarding defense and weapons capabilities of the United States and other allied nations, U.S. nuclear programs, plans for possible retaliation in case of an attack and potential U.S. vulnerabilities, according to the indictment.
Trump stored the boxes in several locations at Mar-a-Lago, his social club with 25 guest rooms in Palm Beach. The boxes that contained classified documents were stored in a ballroom, a bathroom and shower, an office space, his bedroom and a storage room, prosecutors alleged in the indictment.
The club was not authorized to store classified documents.
Prosecutors further alleged that Trump showed classified documents to people not authorized to see such records. In one case on July 21, 2021, at the Bedminster Club in New Jersey, Trump allegedly showed a writer, a publisher and two staff members classified documents. During the recorded interview, Trump said that the documents were “highly classified” and that could have declassified them while president, but could no longer do so after leaving office, according to the indictment. In August or September 2021, prosecutors allege Trump showed a representative of his political action committee a classified map of a country.
Trump is the first president to face felony criminal charges.
In April, Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts in New York related to charges he paid hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels through a lawyer before the 2016 presidential election and covered it up as a legal expense before being elected president.
Too bad they can’t be ordered to use intellect and common sense—ant to abide by the Constitution.
“charged with keeping classified documents after leaving office and later obstructing the government’s efforts to get them back.”,,,,,,,,,sounds like the United States of Ukriane, where when you deal with a politician you get at least 17 self-incriminating verbal insurance recordings of the criminal politician you are dealing with to protect yourself from getting assassinated later. Thanks to the Biden crime family we have now turned the good old USA into a banana republic, up to and including the highest offices in the land. After 4 years of watching the Biden/Obamas accuse Trump of what they themselves had been doing for years in corrupt personal enrichment at the expense of WE THE PEOPLE, I’m surprised he didn’t take the entire library with him to protect him from personal, judicial and physical assassination by people who have no scruples to lie right to your face, and corrupt once clean FBI entities into filthy crime family participating stooges. Joe makes 10 million on Hunter Burisma Ukrain deal, Taxpayers spend 78 BILLION in arms to Ukraine to keep their mouths shut to Biden corruptions. Joe loses not a penny, while WE pay through the nose.
EVEN IF they could be so ordered. How would that get ENFORCED?
and by this judge’s logic, SHOULDN’T BOTH HIM and all the jurors selected, ALSO be required to get a security clearance?!
The Above image:
“This image, contained in the indictment against former President Donald Trump, shows boxes of records stored in a bathroom and shower in the Lake Room at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla. (Justice Department via AP)”
The intent is to deceive you into thinking that all of these boxes contained classified papers.
In reality the FBI ONLY found 150 sheets of classified or declassified documents.
From some of the pics i saw, they were just the COVER SHEETS. Not actual folders or files that were classified.
WEhen do they arraign hidin’ Biden? Barack O’Bananas? What about the serial liar Billary Clintonopolis? Beuhler? Beuhler, Beuhler. The governmental goons have fallen to the level of mud drinkers but we Republicans, we are a crafty bunch. We are so busy selling each other out we look as much like traitors as do Mitt Romney and Lindsey Grahamnesty.
I fear hell will have frozen over, before that occurs.
I thought that the materials were in a secure room, that had a more secure lock installed as per those who requested it. Trump was cooperating all the time with government officials any time they wanted to go through those documents. So we get photos of boxes, one with Melanie’s name on it. What is classified in that box. Oh then another photo of open boxes showing boxes of “classified” newspapers strewn on the floor. How can we forget the photo of folders having “classified” laying on the floor in a room, after the infamous raid, I would bet the fbi purposely staged that photo as none of Trump’s lawyers were allowed to watch what was going on. Like it has been said, when is the raid on Biden’s properties and university office space going to occur. I’ll not hold my breath for that to ever happen.
Excellent points