(CN) — Federal prosecutors accused attorneys for Donald Trump of “misleading” the court last week in their attempt to delay his trial in the classified materials case until after next year’s election, citing limited access to classified evidence.
The defense attorneys' complaints, the government said in a response filed Monday, are “inaccurate or incomplete.”
As of Friday the defendants, who include former Trump employees Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, have their hands on all the classified and unclassified evidence the government expects will appear at the former president’s Florida trial, which is scheduled to begin May 20, 2024.
Prosecutors acknowledged difficulties in accessing the most sensitive materials, but said the concern is limited to a small and tangential subset of discovery that is already available for review.
“The defendants provide no credible justification to postpone a trial that is still seven months away,” the government argued.
Trump was indicted in June. He is accused of mishandling classified documents he kept stored at Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House. Prosecutors say his employees helped their boss hide the records to thwart a grand jury’s subpoena and then lied about it to federal agents.
Further complicating the high-profile case is the sensitive nature of those documents, which include military plans and national defense vulnerabilities. Federal law sets out procedures for handling classified evidence in a criminal case, including requirements to have a secure location to store the records and an information security officer to facilitate access.
Trump’s defense attorneys claimed in a motion filed last week that the process was hindering their ability to access classified materials and prepare a defense. They asked U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon, a Trump appointee, to delay their client’s trial until mid-November 2024.
“Given the current schedule, we cannot understate the prejudice to President Trump arising from his lack of access to these critical materials months after they should have been produced,” defense attorneys wrote.
The Department of Justice wrote in Monday’s response that its disclosure of unclassified materials, which includes cell phone data, security camera footage and grand jury testimony, provides the defense “an exhaustive roadmap of proof."
Prosecutors have turned over the majority of the classified materials, too; but they suggested the sensitive evidence is not crucial to mounting a defense as attorneys claim.
"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," the government response states.
The information security officer has taken “special measures” to protect the most sensitive materials, which has delayed disclosure, but the government expects those issues will be resolved by the end of the week.
Chris Kise, a former solicitor general for Florida who is representing Trump at his civil fraud trial in New York, claimed last week he has not been “cleared fully” to review the confidential materials, which has impeded his ability to defend his client.
“Moreover, the point ignores that the remainder of Trump’s team (four lawyers and a legal analyst) have final clearances,” he wrote.
Prosecutors blamed Kise’s “competing obligations” in the fraud trial, which began Oct. 2 and is expected to continue into late December, for the delays in gaining access.
A hearing is scheduled Thursday in Florida to discuss potential conflicts of interest among the defense attorneys. As of Monday it was unclear whether the agenda will include Trump's motion to delay trial.
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