U.S. District Choose Tanya Chutkan on Thursday agreed to unseal further filings from particular counsel Jack Smith laying out his election interference case in opposition to former President Trump, one thing Trump’s attorneys signaled they plan to problem.
Chutkan agreed to a request from Smith to unseal displays that accompany his 180-page temporary asserting that prosecutors can nonetheless carry a lot of their Jan. 6 case in opposition to Trump within the wake of a Supreme Court docket choice granting former presidents broad felony immunity.
Smith argues Trump’s efforts to thwart the switch of energy have been the illegal actions of a personal citizen, not of a president.
Chutkan granted Smith’s movement to submit redacted variations of the displays, one thing that might embody grand jury transcripts, texts and different proof assembled by prosecutors.
“The court determines that the Government’s proposed redactions to the Appendix are appropriate, and that Defendant’s blanket objections to further unsealing are without merit. As the court has stated previously, ‘Defendant’s concern with the political consequences of these proceedings’ is not a cognizable legal prejudice,’” she wrote.
Trump opposed each the unsealing of Smith’s movement in addition to the accompanying proof.
“There should be no further disclosures at this time of the so-called ‘evidence’ that the Special Counsel’s Office has unlawfully cherry-picked and mischaracterized — during early voting in the 2024 Presidential election,” Trump’s crew wrote in an earlier submitting Thursday.
However Chutkan additionally agreed to remain her ruling for seven days after an earlier movement from Trump’s authorized crew requested for added time “so that President Trump can evaluate litigation options relating to the decision.”
A movement to rethink or attraction Chutkan’s choice would you’ll want to eat up extra time in a case already delayed by Trump’s attraction to the Supreme Court docket and different efforts.
Trump already has till Nov. 7 — simply days after the election — to file his personal response to Smith’s 180-page temporary with one in all his personal that may make his case for why the fees ought to be dropped after the Supreme Court docket’s choice.
It’s unclear simply how a lot data may be gleaned from the appendix Smith needs to unseal. His arguments for continuing within the case did embody some new proof not but uncovered by reporters or the now-disbanded Jan. 6 committee, together with particulars from contemporaneous notes former Vice President Mike Pence took whereas talking with Trump.
