A federal judge issued an order Monday preventing former President Donald Trump from disclosing evidence to the public, including on social media, as he faces charges related to his retention of classified documents at his Florida estate.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce E. Reinhart also said Mr. Trump and his co-defendant — personal aide Waltine Nauta — must view evidence under the “direct supervision of their defense attorneys and cannot retain copies.”
The order is meant to set guardrails around how Mr. Trump, a frequent social media user who is running for president again in 2024, handles the information that federal investigators supply to his team in what is known as the discovery phase before his trial.
“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,” the order says.
Mr. Trump faces more than 30 criminal counts in the indictment that was handed up this month by a grand jury in Miami. It alleges he unlawfully stored classified documents related to nuclear and military secrets, among other papers, at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and obstructed efforts to return them to the National Archives.
Mr. Trump says the case is a witch hunt designed to thwart his political ambitions and argues his declassification as president entitled him to the documents.
Monday’s order largely reflected the limits that Justice Department attorneys requested last week.
Government attorneys said the evidence includes nonpublic information that could compromise investigative techniques or ongoing probes.
“The materials also include information pertaining to ongoing investigations, the disclosure of which could compromise those investigations and identify uncharged individuals,” Justice attorneys wrote Friday.
Mr. Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges at a Miami courthouse last week. Mr. Nauta, charged with allegedly withholding documents and making false statements to investigators, is expected to enter a plea in the coming days.
The protective order is, in many ways, a routine matter. But Mr. Trump is using the case to enthuse his political base at rallies and campaign stops, and he frequently uses his social media platform — Truth Social — to rail against investigators and judges involved in his legal matters.
Prosecutors in New York obtained a protective order around evidence in a state case that accuses Mr. Trump of falsifying business records.
