Special counsel turns over first batch of classified material to Trump in documents case

Washington — Special counsel Jack Smith has turned over to former President Donald Trump and his lawyers the first batch of classified materials as part of the discovery process in the case over the former president's handling of sensitive government records after he left the White House.

In a filing on Thursday, Smith and his team notified U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon that they had made their first production of classified discovery on Wednesday, the same day Cannon issued a protective order pertaining to the classified information disclosed to Trump and his lawyers in the lead-up to the trial set to begin in May. 

Prosecutors said that some of the sensitive material can be viewed by Trump's lawyers who have received interim clearances, but other documents require them to have "final clearances with additional necessary read-ins into various compartments." Highly classified information is often "compartmentalized" to limit the number of officials who have access to it.