US District Judge Aileen Cannon, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, has asked Trump and prosecutors to propose jury instructions based on two legal scenarios that favor a claim from Trump that national security lawyers said have little relevance to the charges, Reuters reported.
Trump and Special Counsel Jack Smith, who brought the case, face a Tuesday deadline to respond to the judge’s order.
The dispute is another instance of Cannon lending credence to Trump's legal arguments about highly sensitive records taken to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida when he left the White House in 2021.
While Trump has clashed with judges in many of his legal cases, Cannon has been receptive to his defense in ways that could alter the course of the documents case.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges accusing him of knowingly retaining secret records related to the US national defense and obstructing efforts by the US government to retrieve them.