By ERIC TUCKER (Associated Press)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal judge managing the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump approved a request by prosecutors on Tuesday to protect the identities of potential government witnesses.
But U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon refused to completely prevent witness statements from being revealed, stating that there was no justification for such a broad limit on their inclusion in pretrial motions.
The 24-page order focuses on a disagreement between special counsel Jack Smith’s team and Trump's attorneys regarding how much information about witnesses and their statements can be publicly disclosed before the trial. This disagreement, which had been pending for weeks, was one of several issues before Cannon that had slowed down the case against Trump, one of four prosecutions he is facing.
The trial date is still uncertain, although both sides have indicated they may be prepared this summer. Cannon, who previously faced strong criticism for her decision to grant Trump’s request for an independent arbiter to review documents from an FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, expressed her continuing skepticism of the government’s prosecution theory, stating Tuesday tha