Former President Donald Trump is seeking a delay to his classified documents case because his lawyers have no privacy during the Stormy Daniels trial.
In their latest written submission, his lawyer complained to Judge Aileen Cannon that there is no secure room in New York where Trump's lawyers, Emil Bove and Todd Blanche, can discuss the top-secret documents at the center of the classified documents case.
"Simply put, President Trump and his counsel cannot prepare—or even discuss—the required filings anywhere but an appropriate SCIF, [Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility], a virtually impossible task given President Trump and Messrs. Blanche and Bove's involvement in People v. Trump, in New York, New York," they said.
SCIFs are secure rooms with anti-bugging devices and anti-hacking technology. Two were set up in Miami for the prosecution and defense teams so they could inspect the classified documents found at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
Trump's lawyers say that no such SCIFs are available to them in New York while they are representing Trump in his Stormy Daniels hush money trial.
They said Special Counsel Jack Smith has objected to the delay. Smith has said that Trump's lawyers had months to prepare for the Stormy Daniels case and that Trump will "only be in trial four days a week in New York."
"This premise is untethered to reality and disregards the substantial motion practice that has occurred before this [Florida] Court," they said.
The filing was submitted by Bove, Blanche and a third Trump attorney, Chris Kise. They submitted the document in support of their motion for an adjournment of the deadlines in the classified documents case.
Cannon, a Trump appointee, is overseeing the classified documents case in which the former president is accused of illegally retaining classified documents, hoarding them at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and obstructing attempts by federal officials to retrieve them.
The former president and presumptive Republican nominee for the 2024 presidential election has pleaded not guilty to the charges. He has denied any wrongdoing in the case and has said the documents he retained were personal.
Newsweek sought email comment from Trump's attorney and from Smith's office on Monday.
Trump also has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in the Stormy Daniels trial. The prosecution seeks to prove that before the 2016 presidential election, Trump paid, or discussed paying, two women—adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal—not to disclose his alleged affairs with them.
In their submission, Trump's lawyers rejected Smith's claim that Trump could use another lawyer in Florida to deal with the classified documents case during the Stormy Daniels trial.
This "does not earnestly acknowledge President Trump's constitutional right to counsel of his choice," their filing said.
They added that Smith "makes no effort to actually identify how the government would be prejudiced by an extension of time to allow President Trump and his counsel the right to defend him in New York and before this Court."
Smith has complained several times to Cannon that Trump is seeking to delay the classified documents case until after the 2024 presidential election.
If elected, Trump could pardon himself or appoint a favorable attorney general to drop the case.
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Sean O'Driscoll is a Newsweek Senior Crime and Courts Reporter based in Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. law. ... Read more
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