THE TIGHTENING NOOSE:

While arguing against the motion by Trump's lawyers to delay the May 20 trial, special counsel Jack Smith's lawyers assured they're ready to go and that such a delay isn't necessary, unsurprisingly. But they also said they are ready to prove something significant that, to this point, has remained shrouded and the subject of much speculation: why Trump allegedly took and kept the documents.

"That the classified materials at issue in this case were taken from the White House and retained at Mar-a-Lago is not in dispute," Smith's office said.

It then added that "what is in dispute is how that occurred, why it occurred, what Trump knew, and what Trump intended in retaining them -- all issues that the Government will prove at trial primarily with unclassified evidence."

The government apparently thinks it knows "what Trump intended" with the documents. And it's signaling that it plans to prove that intent.

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