Jack Smith dismantles Trump's request for trial delay in classified documents case

Special counsel Jack Smith's office has filed a scathing response to Donald Trump's request to delay his trial in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case.

The former president's legal team last week asked District Court judge Aileen Cannon to reschedule the trial from May until after the 2024 election, but Smith's team argued that none of the claims they set forth to justify the delay were accurate or valid.

"The defendants provide no credible justification to postpone a trial that is still seven months away," prosecutors wrote. "They are fully informed about the charges and the theory of the Government’s case from a highly detailed superseding indictment and comprehensive, organized unclassified and classified discovery. Their unfounded claims of Government noncompliance with discovery obligations do not support their request."

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"Their claims about their inability to review classified information are distorted and exaggerated, and, in any event, the Government expects that the [classified information security officer] will resolve any remaining issues this week," they added. "There is no reason to adjourn the trial date. The defendants’ motion should be denied."

Prosecutors say they have provided classified materials and other evidence to Trump's defense team as required by law, and they argued that a sensitive compartmented information facility – a safe space where classified documents can be viewed – had been provided at the Fort Pierce, Florida, courthouse where Cannon presides.

"The fact is that the great majority of the allegations in the indictment — including allegations of the defendants’ conduct, knowledge, and intent — turn on evidence contained in the unclassified discovery, not the much smaller set of classified discovery," prosecutors wrote. "That the classified materials at issue in this case were taken from the White House and retained at Mar-a-Lago is not in dispute; what is in dispute is how that occurred, why it occurred, what Trump knew, and what Trump intended in retaining them — all issues that the Government will prove at trial primarily with unclassified evidence."

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"Whether the highly classified documents Trump retained at Mar-a-Lago contain national defense information is a fact Trump can try to dispute, but it will hardly be the centerpiece of the trial," they added. "Regardless, as discussed below, none of the defendants’ claims about the availability of classified discovery justifies a continuance."