Trump Attorneys Say He Intends to Use Classified Information to Challenge DC Indictment Narrative

Former President Donald Trump speaks during a break in his civil fraud trial at New York State Supreme Court in New York on Oct. 17, 2023. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Former President Donald Trump intends to use classified information to challenge assessments from the intelligence community and others who allegedly downplayed foreign influences on the 2020 election, his attorneys said in a filing Oct. 26.

The filing in DC District Court accuses the Justice Department (DOJ) of relying on faulty information in bringing its August indictment. It also objects to redactions in classified discovery produced by the Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office.

“The Indictment in this case adopts classified assessments by the Intelligence Community and others that minimized, and at times ignored, efforts by foreign actors to influence and interfere with the 2020 election,” reads a filing from Mr. Trump’s attorneys, Todd Blanche and John Lauro.

“President Trump will offer classified information at trial relating to foreign influence activities that impacted the 2016 and 2020 elections, as well as efforts by his administration to combat those activities. President Trump will also present classified information relating to the biased and politicized nature of the intelligence assessments that he and others rejected during the events in question.”

DOJ’s indictment accuses Mr. Trump of conspiring to defraud the United States by, in part, ignoring information from various governmental entities regarding fraud and foreign interference. For example, it states that the Director of National Intelligence “disabused the Defendant of the notion that the Intelligence Community’s findings regarding foreign interference would change the outcome of the election.”

Mr. Trump’s attorneys said in their Oct. 26 filing that their client intends to present evidence “will undercut central theories of the prosecution and establish that President Trump acted at all times in good faith and on the belief that he was doing what he had been elected to do.”

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For weeks, the defense and prosecution have been arguing over details surrounding access and use of classified information in the case. DOJ said in an Oct. 2 filing that the “charges in this case do not rely on classified material, and the Government does not intend to use or introduce such material at trial. Accordingly, the classified discovery issues are limited and tangential.”

Mr. Trump’s Oct. 26 filing argues DOJ was “wrong.” Instead, it says DOJ took a limited or “tunnel vision” approach to viewing issues in the case.

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks to guests during a campaign event at the Dallas County Fairgrounds in Adel, Iowa, on Oct. 16, 2023. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

It remains to be seen what evidence Mr. Trump will present. The defense’s filing had provided notice under the Classified Information Procedures Act, which provides procedures for handling classified information in courts.

The National Intelligence Council, which includes the Central Intelligence Agency and other federal entities, also issued a report in March 2021 in which it stated that it had “no indications that any foreign actor attempted to alter any technical aspect of the voting process in the 2020 U.S. elections, including voter registration, casting ballots, vote tabulation, or reporting results.”

Mr. Trump is facing another indictment in Georgia, where he and his advisors have been accused of making false statements about fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Two attorneys during the campaign—Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell—have taken plea deals.

Ms. Powell notably pledged to “release the Kraken,” and claimed a “massive influence of communist money through Venezuela, Cuba, and likely China in the interference with our elections here in the United States.” She also alleged that voting software was “created in Venezuela at the direction of Hugo Chavez to make sure he never lost an election after one constitutional referendum came out the way he did not want it to come out.” Ms. Powell also filed a lawsuit challenging the election results in Georgia but it was dismissed.

Mr. Trump responded to Ms. Powell’s guilty plea, saying on Oct. 22 that “Sidney Powell was one of millions and millions of people who thought, and in ever increasing numbers still think, correctly, that the 2020 Presidential Election was rigged & stolen.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Trump’s attorneys filed several motions to dismiss the Washington case, including for selective and vindictive prosecution. The D.C. case, in particular, has become a focal point for allegations of interference in the upcoming presidential election in 2024. Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is presiding over the case, granted part of a Justice Department request to restrict Mr. Trump’s speech in relation to witnesses, prosecutors, and court personnel involved in the case.

She later placed a stay on the order as the parties debate the issue. On Oct. 26, the government defended Judge Chutkan’s order, contending it was necessary to preserve the integrity and fairness of the trial. Mr. Trump’s attorneys have until Oct. 28 to respond to DOJ’s arguments.