Special counsel Jack Smith on Friday asked the judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s classified documents case to impose a protective order over the evidence in the case.

The protective order is meant to ensure that neither Trump nor codefendant Walt Nauta, his presidential valet, disclose sensitive information obtained during the discovery process, where prosecutors will show the defense what evidence it has amassed during their investigation.

[That will be … interesting. Trump’s running a presidential campaign and has never allowed discretion to interfere with making a public case in his own defense. In fact, that may have been a good reason for Smith to think twice about the 18 UDC 793 charges and just stick with the obstruction counts instead. When you charge a presidential candidate with felonies, *you’re* making it part of the election. It’ll be interesting to see what the judge does. — Ed]