Thread by @realjusthuman

United States v. Trump
(Docs case in Florida)

Last week, Trump's defense team asked Judge Cannon for an order re-establishing his SCIF so that he and his defense team could use it to review classified information related to his case.

Thread on that in the quoted post.

Special Counsel Smith has now responded.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

Trump is seeking "special treatment that no other criminal defendant would receive and that is unsupported by law or precedent."

True.

"The proposed protective order requires that any discussion of classified information between Trump and his attorneys take place in a sensitive compartmented information facility (“SCIF”)"

Yep, and Trump has one of those.

Several times in Trump's motion they state that classified material will NOT be housed/stored in the SCIF and they are not seeking for it to be stored there.

From their motion:

Smith ain't wrong here. It is certainly an "accommodation that deviates from the normal course of cases involving classified discovery."

Government’s proposed protective order contains the following provisions:

"In the Government’s view, the particular SCIF(s) that can be used for such discussions should be determined by the CISO in consultation with the defense, and if necessary, the Court..."

CISO previously accredited Trump's SCIF. I wonder if Cannon will ask for their input?

"Trump continues to seek special treatment that no other criminal defendant would receive."

"In essence, he is asking to be the only defendant ever in a case involving classified information [] who would be able to discuss classified information in a private residence."

Yep. 😎

Smith goes on to talk about how many guests &events Mar-a-Lago has in an effort to make it seem less secure and a poor choice for a SCIF.

However, this was not an issue during Trump's Presidency, as MAL continued operating as a club with an accredited SCIF somewhere inside it.

Plus, MAL has lots of security, Trump has SS, and as Trump's motion states,

"a member of the prosecution’s trial team has visited Mar-a-Lago... and is therefore personally aware of the differences between President Trump’s residence and that of “any private citizen.”"

It doesn't need to be created. It already exist. It even received an almost $600k upgrade last year.

"as long as the classified information at issue—which includes a significant amount of SCI—is discussed in an accredited SCIF in compliance with Intelligence Community Directive (“ICD”) 705 and applicable laws and regulations, the Government defers to the CISO"

Nauta is on a case-by-case basis for his access to classified discovery.

"The classified discovery in this case goes well beyond the charged documents..."

"...the classified discovery will include other classified documents... brought from the WH to MAL, classified emails about highly classified briefings... and... classified witness statements..."

"For classified information, the burden is not on the Government to show why a defendant should not have access. Instead, the defendant, like anyone who accesses classified information, must have a demonstrable need to know it."

"The Government’s proposed protective order (1) provides sufficient flexibility for counsel for Defendant Trump to discuss with him in any SCIF authorized by the CISO..."

Good. Let's get the CISO to authorize/accredit Trump's MAL SCIF.

Thoughts:

I love this battle. It confirms the existence of the MAL SCIF, which many BELIEVED was there, but now we KNOW.

Several fmr Presidents have SCIFS at home too, and I think THAT is the primary point of all of this- cutting the template for future cases.

😎