Special prosecutor Jack Smith on Wednesday hinted at why former President Donald Trump may have hoarded classified documents at his Florida golf resort.
Smith, in a court filing, suggested that the prosecutors know “what Trump intended” to do with the classified documents he took home while leaving the White House.
The filing was in response to a request from Trump’s legal team to delay the trial, which is due to start on May 20. Smith’s team dismissed suggestions of being unprepared.
The document suggests answers to questions about the incident are imminent, revealing evidence that could prove “why it occurred, what Trump knew, and what Trump intended.”
However, the classified documents at the center of the case have not yet been shared with the defense. The prosecutors expect these documents to be available soon but stressed that the case hinges on unclassified information already handed over.
“The Government has endeavored to assist the defense’s review of these productions by categorizing materials logically, explaining the productions’ content and organization through informative cover letters, and curating ‘key’ documents and videos,” the filing stated.
Trump’s attorneys have made several unsuccessful attempts to postpone his numerous trials until after the 2024 presidential election.
“[T]he 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. 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,” said in the continue
The prosecution also argues that they’re ahead of schedule, having already provided a significant amount of unclassified evidence to Trump and his co-defendants, Waltine Nauta and Carlos de Oliviera. This evidence includes over a million pages of documents, security footage, and content from three electronic devices.
In addition to this case, Trump faces a federal trial related to his attempts to overturn the 2020 election results and a state-level case on the same issue. His civil trial in New York over alleged illegal business practices is ongoing.
The former president is expected to have a lengthy court schedule in 2024 that includes his indictments elsewhere including New York, Washington, and Atlanta.
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