Trump urges judge in 2020 election case not to allow release of more evidence, claiming election interference
Washington — Lawyers for former President Donald Trump on Thursday urged the federal district judge overseeing his prosecution related to the 2020 election to keep from public view evidence accompanying a key legal brief from special counsel Jack Smith that detailed his case against the former president.
Trump's lawyers argued in their two-page filing that U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan should not allow the release of any additional information and accused Smith of attempting to interfere with the upcoming presidential election by making public potentially damaging information while voters are casting their ballots.
The former president's lawyers also asked Chutkan to pause any decision to release additional information relating to Smith's filing to allow them to "evaluate litigation options."
"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 — in connection with an improper presidential immunity filing that has no basis in criminal procedure or judicial precedent," the former president's legal team wrote.
The special counsel's office declined to comment. Prosecutors in an earlier filing rejected Trump's claim that they are motivated by politics as "unsupported" and "false," and said the special counsel's directive is to uphold the law.
"It has no role or interest in partisan politics and has faithfully executed its prosecutorial duties in this case," they wrote.
Shortly after Trump lodged his opposition to any additional disclosures, Chutkan granted Smith's request to file the appendix, with his proposed redactions, on the public docket. But she also granted Trump's request to put her decision on hold for seven days.
The judge wrote in her brief order that prosecutors' proposed redactions are "appropriate," but Trump's "blanket objections to further unsealing are without merit."
Chutkan was tasked with deciding whether the appendix and brief submitted by Smith earlier this month should be made available to the public with certain information kept secret. The judge allowed the brief to be made public last week, though it included redactions of names of alleged co-conspirators, campaign staff and White House officials, as well as certain references to grand jury proceedings.
The special counsel had indicated that much of the appendix contains sensitive materials that should be shielded from the public. That evidence, subject to a protective order issued at the start of the case last year, likely includes transcripts of testimony before a grand jury and FBI interviews.
Prosecutors also said in a separate filing that they proposed limited redactions to some information that is in the public domain, such as Trump's tweets, if the material "identifies or targets an individual who — because of their status as a potential witness or involvement in underlying events — may be susceptible to threats or harassment, or may otherwise suffer a chilling effect on their trial testimony."
Proceedings in the case against Trump were revived in August after the Supreme Court ruled that former presidents are entitled to some immunity from criminal charges arising from official acts taken while in the White House.
Prosecutors sought a new indictment against Trump to comply with the high court's decision that contained a more narrow set of allegations and removed references to his discussions with Justice Department officials. The court's conservative majority found those interactions were off-limits for prosecutors.
Trump was initially charged in August 2023 with four counts stemming from what Smith alleged was a scheme to subvert the transfer of power after the 2020 presidential election. The former president still faces those same four charges in the new indictment and pleaded not guilty.
The two sides are now debating whether the conduct alleged in the slimmed-down indictment is protected by presidential immunity, a determination that will ultimately be made by Chutkan. Trump's lawyers have said they will again seek to have the entire case thrown out based on presidential immunity and other grounds.
Smith submitted to the judge earlier this month his comprehensive filing arguing that the allegations against Trump aren't protected by presidential immunity. While initially filed under seal, Chutkan ordered it to be released to the public last week.
The 165-page legal brief provided the most detailed look at the evidence federal prosecutors have amassed in their case against Trump and included new information about his conversations with former Vice President Mike Pence in the days after the November election and activities on Jan. 6, 2021, when the U.S. Capitol building was overrun by a mob of Trump's supporters.
Smith argued in his lengthy filing that the allegations against Trump are not protected by presidential immunity and has said the former president's purported plot to overturn the results of the 2020 election was mounted in his capacity as a presidential candidate, not as the president.
"When the defendant lost the 2020 presidential election, he resorted to crimes to try to stay in office," the special counsel and his team wrote.
But the former president's legal team has pushed to keep any new information about the case from being publicly released before the November election. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, is locked in a tight race for the White House against Vice President Kamala Harris.
While Trump's lawyers have attempted to warn of the implications for the presidential contest, Chutkan has rebuffed any invocation of the upcoming election, saying repeatedly she isn't concerned with the electoral schedule.