DOJ seeks court order to stop Trump from releasing classified materials

The Department of Justice on Friday asked a judge to bar former President Donald Trump from having unrestricted access to certain classified materials amid the ongoing prosecution over his alleged mishandling of such materials.

Specifically, the DOJ requests that Trump himself only be permitted to review 31 classified documents pertinent to the DOJ's case while in the presence of his attorneys, according to The Hill. The DOJ is not seeking to restrict Trump's access to the records he stored at Mar-a-Lago.

"Defendants shall only have access to Discovery Materials under the direct supervision of Defense Counsel or a member of Defense Counsel’s staff. Defendants shall not retain copies of Discovery Material. Defendants may take notes regarding Discovery Materials, but such notes shall be stored securely by Defense Counsel," the DOJ motion reads. The order would further bar the publication of the materials on social media or their provision to news outlets without the government's approval or a court order.

Judge Bruce Reinhart, who initially approved the search warrant for the FBI's August 2022 raid on Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, will review the order. Reinhart is not the judge handling the case but Judge Aileen Cannon, the Trump appointee overseeing the matter, referred the DOJ motion to him.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.