Former President Donald Trump learned on Wednesday who is going to testify against him in the federal case involving his handling of classified national defense information.
The revelation came after the Department of Justice said that it turned over “grand jury testimony of witnesses who will testify for the government at the trial of this case” as part of the discovery process.
JUST IN: DOJ says it has made its first production of trial discovery to Donald Trump and his team — which means (per the below) he now knows who’s going to testify against him, and roughly what they’re going to say. pic.twitter.com/9XgeHplMAE
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) June 22, 2023
No further information was released about who the witnesses are or what they said during their testimony.
A federal judge issued a protective order on Monday blocking Trump from being able to release any of the evidence that prosecutors turn over to his defense team during the discovery process.
“The Discovery Materials, along with any information derived therefrom, shall not be disclosed to the public or the news media, or disseminated on any news or social media platform, without prior notice to and consent of the United States or approval of the Court,” Federal Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart said in the order.
The order said that Trump and his team also cannot disclose any of the material, due to the sensitivity of its contents, in “any public filing or in open court without notice to, and agreement from, the United States, or prior approval from the Court.”
The order said that all the documents must stay in the custody of the defense counsel in a secure manner and that all the material must be returned to the U.S. government or completely destroyed within 90 days of the case being brought to a conclusion.
The defendants are not allowed to retain any copies of the material, but they are allowed to take notes on the material, though that material must be securely stored.