U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan agreed Thursday to unseal additional filings from special counsel Jack Smith who filed an election interference lawsuit against former President Trump, but Trump's lawyers objected. He indicated that he intended to file a complaint.
Chutkan agreed to the request Smith wrote in a 180-page brief arguing that prosecutors can still bring much of the Jan. 6 case against Trump following the Supreme Court's ruling granting the former president broad criminal immunity. He requested that the seals on the accompanying exhibits be broken.
Smith argues that Trump's efforts to block the transfer of power were the wrongdoing of a private citizen, not the president.
Mr. Chutkan granted Mr. Smith's motion to post a redacted version of the exhibit, which may include grand jury reports, texts and other evidence collected by prosecutors.
“The court finds that the government's proposed redactions to the addenda are appropriate and that defendants' blanket opposition to further unsealing is without merit.As the court previously stated, “the politics of these cases… “Defendant's concern for “consequences'' is not a discernible legal prejudice,'' she wrote.
Mr. Trump opposed Mr. Smith's motion and the release of accompanying evidence.
“The so-called 'evidence' that the Office of Special Counsel illegally cherry-picked and mischaracterized during early voting for the 2024 presidential election should not be disclosed at this time,” Trump's team said Thursday. As stated in a previous submission.
But Chutkan also issued his ruling after an earlier motion from President Trump's legal team asked for additional time “so that President Trump can evaluate litigation options related to this decision.” I agreed to hold it for 7 days.
A motion to reconsider or appeal Mr. Chutkan's decision is sure to add more time to the case, which has already been delayed by Mr. Trump's appeals to the Supreme Court and other efforts.
By November 7, just days after the election, President Trump had already submitted his response to Smith's 180-page brief, including his own opinion arguing why the charges should be dismissed after the Supreme Court's decision. It is necessary to submit the documents together with the documents.
It's unclear how much information can be gleaned from the appendix that Smith is trying to unseal. His arguments for moving forward with the lawsuit include details of notes former Vice President Mike Pence took at the time during a meeting with President Trump that have yet to be revealed by reporters and the now-disbanded Jan. 6 committee. It contained some new evidence that had not been previously published.
