To this point, most of the rulings that Judge Cannon, a Trump appointee, has issued, have been to keep Special Counsel Jack Smith in line.
This time, however, the ruling is going to hurt Donald Trump.
Not in a significant way, mind you, but Trump will surely see this as an inconvenience.
Protect the Documents
Cannon merely wants to make sure all classified documents are protected.
As such, she has ruled that Trump and his attorneys may only view them in an approved SCIF.
Trump was hoping to be able to view the documents at Mar-a-Lago, which had been approved when he was president.
Cannon’s ruling stated, “The Court finds that this case will involve information that has been classified in the interest of national security.
“The storage, handling, and control of this information will require special security precautions mandated by statute, executive order, and regulation.
“The purpose of this Protective Order (‘Order’) is to establish the procedures that must be followed by the Defendant, defense counsel, the parties, and all other individuals who receive access to classified information or documents in connection with this case.
“The procedures set forth in this Order shall apply to all pre-trial, trial, post-trial, and appellate matters concerning classified information in this case and may be modified from time to time by further order of the Court acting under this Court’s inherent supervisory authority to ensure a fair and expeditious trial.
“The limitations on disclosure of classified information set forth in this Order are binding on Defendant and his counsel and violations may result in criminal and/or civil penalties.
“The Defendant may disclose classified information to the defense as necessary for the preparation of his defense. Any classified information provided to the defense by the government or the Defendant is to be used solely by the defense and solely for the purpose of preparing the defense.
“The defense may not disclose or cause to be disclosed in connection with this case any information known or reasonably believed to be classified information except as otherwise provided herein.”
If I were Trump, I would see about building a SCIF at Mar-a-Lago, if possible.
Otherwise, his team is going to spend a lot of time traveling, and time is something that Trump is going to be very short on preparing for these trials and the primary race.
Source: CBS News
