The US Justice Department has started to turn over evidence to Donald Trump’s legal team in the classified documents prosecution, including grand jury testimony of witnesses who are set to testify for the government at trial, according to a new court filing.
(Bloomberg) — The US Justice Department has started to turn over evidence to Donald Trump’s legal team in the classified documents prosecution, including grand jury testimony of witnesses who are set to testify for the government at trial, according to a new court filing.
Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office filed a notice Wednesday describing the first set of unclassified documents and other materials that they produced to the former president’s lawyers as the case moves forward in federal court in Florida.
The notice doesn’t identify the government witnesses whose grand jury testimony Trump has received. The first production of evidence also features information that prosecutors referenced in Trump’s indictment, including a recording of a July 2021 conversation between the former president and several individuals at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club, where he allegedly discussed having classified information.
Read more: Trump Faces August 14 Trial Date in DOJ Documents Case (2)
The filing underscores the government’s intent to move quickly toward trial which US District Judge Aileen Cannon has scheduled to start on Aug. 14. But in order to receive classified materials, Trump’s lawyers need security clearances that may take some time to get. Trump’s team also has yet to file anticipated motions challenging the lawfulness of the indictment and the evidence the government intends to use against him.
The collection of evidence the government said it turned over includes public statements that Trump made over the years that are quoted in the indictment, a May 2022 FBI interview of Trump’s personal aide and codefendant Walt Nauta, Nauta’s June 2022 testimony before a grand jury in Washington, and other witness interviews.
Trump has also now received reproductions of “key” documents and photographs that are referenced in the indictment — the charging papers include photographs of boxes in various locations around Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, including a bathroom — and closed-circuit camera footage from the property.
The government’s filing confirms that Trump never appeared to testify before a grand jury. He’s charged with mishandling sensitive national defense information and trying to obstruct the government’s investigation. He pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Both sides are barred from publicly sharing evidence that’s been turned over in the case, per a standard order entered by the court this week. Trump’s attorneys are in the process of securing the necessary security clearances to review any classified material.
As the case proceeds in court, members of Smith’s team have been entering their appearances after months of operating largely behind the scenes. The prosecution’s latest addition on Wednesday was Michael Thakur, an assistant US attorney who was previously based in the US attorney’s office in Florida.
Prosecutors wrote that Trump’s team could make arrangements to review all of the unclassified material that was seized by the FBI during a search of Mar-a-Lago last summer.
Nauta hasn’t been arraigned and his lawyer hasn’t registered with the court yet. He is scheduled to appear before a federal magistrate judge in Miami on June 27.
The government will turn over the evidence to Nauta’s lawyer once he is registered with the court, prosecutors said.
The case is United States of America v. Trump, 9:23-cr-80101, US District Court, Southern District of Florida.
(Updates with US lawyers in ninth paragraph. An earlier version of this story corrected day of filing.)
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