Federal Judge Denies Trump’s Request To Delay Release Of Additional Evidence In Jan. 6 Case

Topline

A federal judge on Thursday denied Donald Trump’s request to delay the release of additional evidence from an appendix to Special Counsel Jack Smith’s bombshell filing in the January 6 case, in a blow to the former president after the original filing featured damaging revelations about his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Key Facts

U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled that a redacted version of an appendix to Smith’s filing will be unsealed Friday.

In her order, Chutkan addressed Trump’s claims that the release would amount to election interference, saying there is “undoubtedly a public interest in courts not inserting themselves into elections” but added that a “litigation's incidental effects on politics are not the same as a court's intentional interference.”

The judge wrote that if the court withheld information that the public had a right to access “solely because of the potential political consequences of releasing it, that withholding could itself constitute—or appear to be—election interference.”

Chutkan added that because of these factors, the court will “continue to keep political considerations out of its decision-making.”

The judge also dismissed the argument from Trump’s lawyers that the court was “limiting the public’s access to only one side” of the case, saying the “Defendant is free to submit his legal arguments and factual proffers.

Crucial Quote

In order Chutkan noted that the court has repeated stressed that the, “Defendant’s concern with the political consequences of these proceedings does not bear on the pretrial schedule.”

Key Background

Smith’s initial filing was unsealed earlier this month, and it included a series of new allegations against the former president. The filing accused the former president of propagating election fraud allegations despite knowing they were false. Trump allegedly told his family members, “It doesn’t matter if you won or lost the election. You still have to fight like hell.” Smith’s filing also alleged Trump told one of his associates that the “details” of his post-2020 election lawsuits “don’t matter” after being informed they wouldn’t hold up in court. The filing noted that even as he and his allies pushed false claims about voting machines changing the ballots—Trump privately mocked attorney Sidney Powell for making similar claims. The filing also detailed Trump’s actions during the January 6 riots, alleging that the former president spent most of the day watching Fox News and scrolling through Twitter as his supporters rioted at the Capitol. Upon being informed that Pence had to be moved to a secure location after the attack on the Capitol, Trump responded with “So what?”, the filing notes.

Further Reading

The Biggest New Claims Against Trump In Jack Smith’s Bombshell Filing (Forbes)

Trump Files Last-Ditch Effort To Keep Bombshell Jack Smith Filing Secret Until After Election (Forbes)