A prosecutor’s claims that Donald Trump does not care about witness safety is “absurd” and “baseless,” a court filing by Trump’s lawyers has claimed.
Trump’s legal team is fighting to have search warrants and other investigation files in his classified documents case unsealed.
Jack Smith, the chief prosecutor in Trump’s classified documents case, opposes their unsealing, unless heavily redacted, because he fears that Trump supporters will intimidate FBI agents, police officers and others involved in the August 2022 raid on Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s estate in Florida.
In a court filing, Smith said he did not want a repeat of other court cases against Trump, in which potential witnesses and court staff have been intimidated.
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Trump faces 40 federal charges over allegations that he retained classified papers at Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House in January 2021. He is also accused of obstructing efforts by authorities to have them returned. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and remains the frontrunner for the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential election.
In a court filing Wednesday, Smith accused Trump of not caring about the safety of witnesses, including FBI agents and others whose names and details are on the search warrants.
Todd Blanche and Christopher Kise, Trump’s attorneys, filed a reply Thursday to Judge Aileen Cannon, saying Smith’s office had not provided sufficient arguments to withhold information from the public.
“The Special Counsel’s Office has added the baseless assertion that ‘the defendants take no responsibility for the safety and security of witnesses,'” their reply said. “This is not so.”
“The Defendants are following the law, something the Special Counsel’s Office has routinely failed to do as it relates to their obligations to allow for public access to criminal proceedings. It is absurd for the Office to suggest that because the Defendants can point to no compelling reason to redact information in our filings we therefore do not care about the safety and security of witnesses,” the reply continued.
The attorneys wrote that Smith’s office “offers only sparse information and generalized arguments in support of the most recent sealing motion.”
Newsweek contacted Christopher Kise for comment via email Friday.
In his filing, Smith accused Trump of being “unable to show concern or sympathy for someone who truly is a mere bystander.”
Among other redactions, Smith wants to black out the name of a former official from the National Archives who sought the return of official presidential documents from Trump.
“Trump makes the totally unfounded and false claim that, beginning on President Biden’s inauguration day, the former Archivist and a longtime career civil servant (and potential Government witness) began ‘to conspire’ to ensure a criminal investigation into Trump’s missing records ensued,” the filing said. “Naming this witness on the public docket in connection with Trump’s baseless allegations would recklessly expose the witness to harm, and for no reason.”
Cannon is due to hear oral arguments from both sides about the redacted documents during a scheduling hearing Friday.
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