Special counsel asks for December trial in Trump documents case

The Justice Department asked a federal judge Friday to delay the trial of former President Donald Trump and his aide, Walt Nautu, on federal charges related to their handling of classified documents.

The trial had initially been scheduled for Aug. 14, but a prosecutor for Special Counsel Jack Smith said in a Friday evening filing that it could take up to 60 days before defense attorneys obtain the necessary security clearances to view certain evidence in the case. The office suggested the judge order a Dec. 11 trial.

A spokesperson for Trump did not immediately reply to a request for comment. In the filing, Jay Bratt, a prosecutor for the special counsel’s office, wrote that Trump’s defense attorneys do not oppose postponing the trial, but will likely have “objections to the government’s proposed dates.”

Trump was arraigned in Miami, Florida on June 13, pleading not guilty to 37 felony counts related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents. Trump and his co-defendant, Nautu, were released on bond with a special condition ordered by a judge calling for prosecutors to provide a list of witnesses with whom Trump could not discuss the case.

Bratt wrote in a separate filing Friday that a list of those witnesses — described during the arraignment as a subset of the overall list — had been delivered to Trump. A footnote in the filing indicates 84 names are on the list.

Bratt is asking for the list to be sealed, noting that Trump’s attorneys object to the special condition and list. Trump attorney Todd Blanche voiced his objection to federal judge Jonathan Goodman at Trump’s arraignment.

“I don’t believe it’s necessary or appropriate in this case,” Blanche said at the time. “The individuals who we understand to be witnesses that the president interacts with and speaks with every day all have lawyers and all have competent lawyers.”