Judge wants Trump dossier documents made public

WASHINGTON — A South Florida judge overseeing a Cyprus-based entrepreneur’s lawsuit against online news site BuzzFeed for the socalled Trump dossier has set an early December date for both sides to justify why scores of documents should remain secret and withheld from the public.

“The notices filed by the parties to date are woefully inadequate, citing only the existence of a blanket protective order, and do not establish good cause,” U.S. District Judge Ursula Ungaro wrote in a four-page order on Monday.

The judge set Dec. 5 as the date by which the parties should jointly file — under seal — a list of every sealed document, testimony or other information filed in the case. They must say whether they oppose unsealing it, and, in a rebuke to their prolific wordiness, ordered the lawyers, per document, to say why in four sentences or less. The judge underlined the word “short.”

“In an effort to properly execute its duty, the Court in- tends to promptly audit the sealed filings,” Ungaro wrote.

Jennifer Nelson, attorney for the nonprofit Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, which is closely watching the suit against BuzzFeed, said it was “a step in the right direction” for Ungaro to demand greater transparency.

“The judge recognizes it is the judge’s role to serve as a gatekeeper here, and to hold the parties to justifying why material should be filed under seal,” Nelson said.

The case involves a defamation lawsuit brought by Aleksej Gubarev, whose Cyprus-based company XBT was identified in the dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele, a Russia expert, that was published in full by BuzzFeed days before Donald J. Trump was sworn in as president in 2017.

The dossier was actually a compilation of uncorroborated opposition research memos, paid for first by persons seeking to thwart Trump’s advance through the GOP primaries and later by a supporter of Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.