Judge in Trump case asks lawyers to ‘expedite’ security clearances

The Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon issued her first order in former President Donald Trump‘s classified documents case Thursday since the ex-president’s day in federal court Tuesday.

Cannon ordered all the attorneys involved in the case to ‘expedite’ getting national security clearances. 

Trump faces 37 charges related to his mishandling of classified documents, taking the materials from the White House after leaving office to his Florida home and social club, Mara-a-Lago and his New Jersey golf club, Bedminster. 

Since the case is related to classified documents, laywers involved in the case will need permission to work with the material. 

Cannon asked that ‘all attorneys of record and forthcoming attorneys of record shall contact the Litigation Security Group of the U.S. Department of Justice, if they have not done so already, to expedite the necessary clearance process for all team members anticipated to participate in this matter.’ 

Lawyers for former President Donald Trump (left) must start the process of getting a security clearance according to a Thursday order from the Trump-appointed judge handling the case, Judge Aileen Cannon (right) 

She gave the attorneys a Friday deadline to reach out to the DOJ’s Litigation Security Group – and they must file a notice by Tuesday saying they’d complied with the court order.

The move signaled that, at least for now, Cannon was not dragging out the case. 

It also indicated that she had no plans to recuse herself from the case.  

Trump critics expressed displeasure when she was assigned the Mar-a-Lago documents case as she’s already ruled in the former president’s favor. 

In September she granted a request from Trump’s team to assign the case a ‘special master,’ to go through the documents the FBI found at the ex-president’s Florida club.

‘As a function of Plaintiff’s former position as President of the United States, the stigma associated with the subject seizure is in a league of its own,’ Cannon said in her ruling last year. 

‘A future indictment, based to any degree on property that ought to be returned, would result in reputational harm of a decidedly different order of magnitude,’ she added. 

An image of some of the classified documents found in Trump’s possession during the raid of Mar-a-Lago last August

That decision was later rebuked by a three judge panel on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, some of whom were also Trump-appointed. 

 In the documents case, Trump is being represented by Todd Blanche and Christopher Kise. 

The ex-president was trying to hire a local Florida lawyer to join his legal team ahead of Tuesday’s federal court appearance in Miami, but didn’t find one in time. 

Kise is Florida’s former solicitor general, who was appointed by Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who was a Republican at the time. More recently Crist was Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Democratic challenger in his 2022 releection bid.

Kise was hired in the weeks following the Mar-a-Lago raid last August and was paid $3 million by Trump’s PAC for legal work, Politico reported in September.

Kise is also representing Trump in the federal January 6 investigation, which is also being handled by Special Counsel Jack Smith.

Blanche is a former federal prosecutor who is also representing Trump in the Stormy Daniels hush-money case. 

Trump was indicted in that case in late March on state charges and is now facing federal charges over his mishandling of classified documents.