Jack Smith's team has hit out at Donald Trump's lawyers over timings to prepare a jury in the Republican's classified documents case.
In June, Trump was indicted on federal charges in South Florida for retaining national defense information without authorization—including nuclear secrets and plans for U.S. military retaliation in the event of an attack—and obstructing the government's efforts to retrieve them. Prosecutors have said he took the documents after leaving the White House in 2021 and resisted repeated requests by federal officials to return them all. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all 40 felony counts in the case.
The trial is scheduled for May 20, 2024, in Florida. Smith counselor Jay Bratt argued in a four-page brief his team is working towards that date by preparing a jury.
But the prosecution and defense clashed this week when the special counsel requested U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon sign off on a jury questionnaire and for both parties to jointly submit a proposal with their areas of disagreement by February 2, 2024.
Special Counsel Jack Smith delivers remarks on a recently unsealed indictment including four felony counts against Donald Trump on August 1, 2023 in Washington, DC. The special counsel clashed with the Republican's lawyers over timings to prepare a jury in Trump's classified documents case. Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Trump's lawyers resisted these efforts in a court filing, claiming the request was "premature," wasted court resources and distracted defendants from preparing a defense. Smith's team hit back, with Bratt writing that Trump's legal filing was "long on rhetoric and baseless accusations that do not merit a response."
"When the Government learned of the time necessary to send a questionnaire to prospective jurors, the Government felt it prudent to bring the issue to the Court's and defendants' attention through the only appropriate channel available: a motion," Bratt wrote.
Bratt added that any changes to the questionnaire defendants may want to make "are simple to amend," including how long the trial might last and its start date.
"More to the point, defendants' breathless castigation of the Government for suggesting the parties engage on jury questionnaires before resolution of pretrial motions ignores that the same was true in cases the Government cited in its motion," he added, citing two cases from South Florida.
"It is economical and a good use of time to begin the process of drafting a questionnaire now," Bratt concluded.
In October, lawyers for the former president asked a judge to postpone the trial until after next year's presidential election. They said they had not received all the records they needed to review to prepare Trump's defense.
Last month Cannon, a Trump appointee, agreed to revisit the trial schedule after conference on March 1, 2024.
If the case is delayed until after the election, and Trump is elected president, it is possible he could order his attorney general to have the charges dismissed.
But prosecutors suggested Trump's team was seeking unreasonable delays in the case and said it was false to accuse them of delaying the production of evidence in the case.
Meanwhile, Smith, who is also leading the Department of Justice's federal case against the GOP frontrunner over his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election, is also trying to limit Trump and his co-defendant's access to classified documents, which they say they need to prepare for their trial.