Certainly! Here's a rephrased version:
Donald Trump's legal team has cited a new reason to request a delay in the case involving classified documents: Some of the documents found in boxes at Mar-a-Lago have been rearranged since FBI agents seized them two years ago.
In a filing on Monday, Trump's attorneys suggested that the reshuffling of documents within the boxes could be grounds for dismissing the case if the prosecution cannot reliably demonstrate how the evidence was seized and handled. They stated their intention to file a motion to dismiss if these issues are not addressed.
Federal Judge Aileen Cannon, in a brief order on Monday, paused the deadline for certain pretrial disclosures and indicated that there would be a follow-up order resetting pretrial deadlines and hearings, without providing further explanation.
Special counsel Jack Smith's office acknowledged in a recent court filing that the order of documents within some of the boxes from Mar-a-Lago has changed since the Justice Department initially took custody of them. Trump's attorneys expressed concern over these revelations, noting that they raise questions about the investigation and the handling of evidence.
Trump was charged with mishandling national defense information after the FBI seized boxes from the Florida estate containing documents with classified markings mixed in with other documents and personal effects. Trump and his co-defendants have pleaded not guilty.
The order of the documents within the boxes could be crucial to the defense. Defense lawyers are now requesting delays, citing disruption to their trial preparations caused by the document rearrangement.
In their filing, Trump's attorneys stated that they relied on the order of the classified material within the boxes during the discovery process. They claimed that at that time, the classified material was "buried within the boxes," which they believe could exonerate Trump.
The filing also mentioned that when the boxes were first seized, they were reviewed for privileged materials by a team of DOJ attorneys separate from the investigation team. Subsequently, as part of another review by investigators, classified documents within the boxes were removed and replaced with a placeholder sheet. As part of the special master process ordered by Judge Cannon, the contents of the boxes were scanned to create inventories.
Prosecutors acknowledged the discrepancy in the order of items within the boxes in response to a request from one of Trump's co-defendants, Walt Nauta, to postpone certain pre-trial deadlines. Nauta has argued that prosecutors have not sufficiently demonstrated that the boxes he is accused of moving out of a Mar-a-Lago storage room contained the classified documents sought by investigators in a subpoena.
Special counsel Smith has argued that Nauta's ability to meet deadlines should not be affected by the document rearrangement.