By Jack Queen(Reuters) - Former U.S. President Donald Trump and his lawyers may only review classified evidence in a secure place as he prepares for a criminal trial over his handling of secret documents after he left office in 2021, a judge ruled on Wednesday.
Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has been charged along with two aides with illegally storing troves of classified documents at his personal residence and lying to federal investigators who sought to retrieve them.
Wednesday's ruling by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon in Florida is a win for prosecutors, who said it would be inappropriate for Trump to be able to review classified documents at the very location where he is accused of illegally and haphazardly storing them.
The order requires Trump and his lawyers to review and discuss all classified evidence in what is known as a sensitive compartmented information facility, or SCIF.
(This story has been refiled to add the dropped word 'not' in paragraph 7)(Reporting by Jack Queen; Additional reporting by Rami Ayyub, Paul Grant and Susan Heavey and Jack Queen; Editing by Grant McCool and Howard Goller)
Persons:
Jack Queen, Donald Trump, Aileen Cannon, Trump, Walt Nauta, Carlos De Oliveira, Joe Biden, Rami Ayyub, Paul Grant, Susan Heavey, Grant McCool, Howard Goller
Organizations:
Former U.S, Trump, U.S, Washington , D.C, Democratic, White
Locations:
Former, Lago, Palm Beach , Florida, Florida, Washington ,, Georgia, New York