New Trump filing gives glimpse at ex-president's arguments in docs case: report

If the secret documents, that Trump is alleged to have lied about stashing at Mar-a-Lago in defiance of the law, compromised national security, his attorneys want to know about it.

The defense team is seeking from special counsel Jack Smith new information, assessment of any damage to national security, "tracking information," and more details to explain the nexus of how the docs in question relate to national defense, according to a New York Times report.

That's the latest drop in the case accusing former President Donald Trump of hoarding highly sensitive national security files that he took with him when he left the White House back in January 2021 when he lost the election to serve a second term.

The papers may lend a peek into Trump's strategy of trying to criticize whether any of the materials in his possession when FBI agents searched the former president's Mar-a-Lago club and seized 102 documents fit with classified status.

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The outlet pointed to a separate filing Friday from Smith's prosecutors to Judge Aileen Cannon, outlining their intentions to have numerous F.B.I. agents testify at trial to speak to the data mined from various cellphones and other devices also inventoried from Trump’s two co-defendants, personal aide Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago's property manager Carlos De Oliveira.

The purpose here, according to the papers reporter by the Times, would be to show the tracking of movements by both Nauta and De Oliveira as the investigation heated up.

Both men have been charged along with Trump in a conspiracy to obstruct the government’s requests and demands he return the classified files.

The paper noted that their experts will also weigh in on the classified materials, but the specifics were sealed.

On March 1, Judge Cannon is expected to discuss the trial start date. It's currently set to begin on May 20, but it's possible that it could be pushed back to avoid causing calendar issues with Trump's criminal federal election subversion case in D.C.