(CN) — Attorneys for Donald Trump want to discuss the classified materials the former president is accused of mishandling outside a secure facility in South Florida.
The attorneys argued in a motion filed Wednesday in the Southern District of Florida that the Department of Justice’s proposed rules for discussing classified materials were impractical.
Federal prosecutors say Trump should only be able to talk with his attorneys about the records at the “sensitive compartmented information facility” where the records are stored.
Defense attorneys Christopher Kise and Todd Blanche asked the court to designate a facility “at or near” Trump’s Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago, where they could have conversations.
The request was based on the “immense practical and logistical hurdles” that make frequent travel to the designated facility unnecessarily burdensome, the motion states.
“Both the required security protocol surrounding President Trump’s travel and the challenges surrounding the media’s and public’s intense focus on this prosecution pose an enormous obstacle to our ability to provide counsel to President Trump regarding classified matters, which are, no doubt, essential to this case,” the attorneys from Continental PLLC and Blanche Law argued.
The motion was filed as part of an ongoing dispute over how the parties will navigate requirements established under the Classified Information Procedures Act, a 1980 law intended to stop defense attorneys from using the disclosure of confidential information to pressure the government into dismissing their client’s case.
Last month the Department of Justice filed a proposed protective order outlining procedures for handling the classified information, which includes military plans and other national secrets.
Prosecutors have backed down from their position that Trump should not even be permitted to view the classified materials, according to the motion, but won’t budge on designating Mar-a-Lago as an alternate facility for discussing the records.
Defense attorneys emphasized that they do not wish to review the evidence at the resort, but only discuss the materials there.
“Limiting any discussions with counsel to the government offered SCIFs is an inappropriate, unnecessary, and unworkable restriction,” the attorneys wrote.
Trump is protected at all times by members of the Secret Service and an area in Mar-a-Lago was previously approved for the discussion and storage of classified information, they argued.
The Department of Justice has until Aug. 14 to file a reply.
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