U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon has rejected a request from the Dept. of Justice’s Special Counsel Jack Smith to shield the identity of dozens of potential witnesses in the government’s classified documents case against Donald Trump.
The Guardian’s Hugo Lowell reports Judge Cannon denied the “request to file 84 potential witnesses in the Trump classified docs case under seal — says the government does not explain why it is necessary and notes media coalition has moved to have it public.”
Lawfare Blog’s Anna Bower describes the dozens of witnesses as “84 potential witnesses that Trump and Nauta are not allowed to communicate with about the case.” Nauta is Walt Nauta, Trump’s bodyman and co-defendant.
She says “the government could try again. Judge Cannon says that the Special Counsel’s motion didn’t provide sufficient information as to why it would be necessary to file the witness list under seal.”
But Bower also calls the order “quite weird considering that the motion to file the witness list under seal was unopposed by Trump and Nauta’s counsel.”
Critics of Cannon’s order warn the indicted ex-president may try to attack or smear the witnesses, while supporters of her decision to say the public’s need to know outweighs those concerns.
But MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin notes Trump’s legal team “has the list already; the only question now is whether the rest of us can or will and on what timeline. After all, she questions whether it need be filed with the court period.”
Trump is facing 34 felony counts, most related to his removal of classified documents from the White House, their unlawful retention and his refusal to return them.