Former President Donald Trump to appear in court in Fort Pierce for classified documents case hearing – WPBF West Palm Beach
The chairman of the St. Lucie County Republican Executive Committee, Kenny Nail, says one of Trump’s attorneys told Nail that Trump will be at the US District Courthouse in Fort Pierce on Monday.
The chairman of the St. Lucie County Republican Executive Committee, Kenny Nail, says one of Trump’s attorneys told Nail that Trump will be at the US District Courthouse in Fort Pierce on Monday.
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The chairman of the St. Lucie County Republican Executive Committee, Kenny Nail, says one of Trump’s attorneys told Nail that Trump will be at the US District Courthouse in Fort Pierce on Monday.
Former President Donald Trump’s attorneys will be in federal court in Fort Pierce Monday for a hearing related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago.
The chairman of the St. Lucie County Republican Executive Committee, Kenny Nail, says one of Trump’s defense attorneys told Nail that Trump will be at the U.S. District Courthouse in Fort Pierce on Monday.
Monday’s hearing will focus on a law that protects classified information from being disclosed in court. Federal prosecutors want to keep that classified evidence secret to protect sensitive government information.
Former senior prosecutor with the Department of Justice’s criminal division and South Florida criminal defense attorney Richard Serafini weighed in on Monday’s upcoming hearing.
“It’s important because it will ultimately determine how critical evidence is shown to the jury,” Serafini said.
Serafini outlines what he thinks Trump’s defense team will push for.
“I suspect the defense will argue that the documents need to be seen in their entirety in order for there to be a fair trial,” Serafini said. The point of making that argument is it puts the justice department between a rock and a hard place,”
He says Trump’s defense team calling to declassify the documents could make the government consider dismissing some of Trump’s counts to protect classified information.
Serafini also says if the judge’s ruling Monday is to keep the information classified, Trump’s lawyers could possibly use that down that road.
Related: Biden and Trump: How the two classified documents investigations came to different endings
“I certainly could see the defendants, if they are convicted, arguing that the redactions or the summaries or whatever ultimately is decided upon withdrew certain critical information from the jury and therefore there was a legal mistake that resulted in a trial that wasn’t fair for the defense,” Serafini said.
Serafini says Monday’s hearing will likely last a day.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges and says they are politically motivated.
As of now, the trial is set for May 20, though that could change.
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