A prominent defense attorney has just met with alleged school shooter Nikolas Cruz and is preparing to take on the 19-year-old's case. The lawyer has worked on several nationally-covered cases, including the Whitewater controversy involving President Bill Clinton.

According to our sources, Cruz met with the attorney at Broward County Jail for several hours on Saturday. We're told security was on high alert for the meeting and there was even an armed sheriff stationed outside of the meeting room — an unusual move for an attorney-client meeting.

We are choosing not to name the lawyer at this point because they are concerned about safety issues with their staff and family. What we can say is that this person has worked on very high-profile cases with international reach and worked at the Justice Department on the Whitewater investigation.

According to our sources, this lawyer will be most likely be working pro bono and the plan would be to assemble a team from all around the country specializing in the death penalty.

We're told the attorney is still making arrangements for security for themselves and their staff before going public and officially signing on to the case, which might happen early next week.