U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan has agreed to release additional evidence related to Jack Smith's opening brief in Donald Trump's federal election subversion case.
Chutkan's order on Thursday follows a request from the former president's team to block the release of Smith's exhibits related to the 165-page brief unsealed last week that laid out prosecutors' arguments that Trump acted as a private citizen when attempting to overturn his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden.
Trump's team argued that "no further disclosures" of Smith's "so-called 'evidence' that the Special Counsel's Office has unlawfully cherry-picked and mischaracterized" should be unsealed. The defense repeated its argument that Smith's brief was politically motivated, given that it was filed just weeks before voters will cast a ballot in the 2024 presidential election, for which Trump is the Republican nominee.
Chutkan, as she has in the past, dismissed Trump's request, writing on Thursday that the defendant's "blanket objections to further unsealing are without merit."
Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump on the stump October 10 in Detroit. Trump has requested that no additional information be revealed that is included in special counsel Jack Smith's 165-page opening brief,... Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump on the stump October 10 in Detroit. Trump has requested that no additional information be revealed that is included in special counsel Jack Smith's 165-page opening brief, which was partially unsealed last week. More Bill Pugliano/Getty Images
"As the court has stated previously, 'Defendant's concern with the political consequences of these proceedings' is not a cognizable legal prejudice," Thursday's motion said.
Chutkan did put a seven-day stay on her order, however, noting that the defense had asked in its Thursday's filing thatif the court "decides to release additional information relating to the Office's filing ... President Trump respectfully requests that the Court stay that determination for a reasonable period of time so that President Trump can evaluate litigation options relating to the decision."
Newsweek reached out to Trump's lawyers via email for comment Thursday.
Smith's office filed the 65-page document late last month that laid out new evidence against Trump in the election subversion case, in which the former president faces four felony counts. A redacted version of the document was filed less than a week later on the public docket, which removed any sensitive information and dozens of names related to Smith's investigation.
Trump had previously sought to block Smith's briefing from being released to the public, writing in a filing last week to the presiding judge on the case, U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan, that the evidence was a "politically motivated manifesto." The former president has pleaded not guilty to all charges, accusing the Justice Department of attempting to interfere with his November election chances.
But Chutkan dismissed those arguments in a motion October 2, writing that Trump's accusations against prosecutors have "no support" and "continue a pattern of defense filings focusing on political rhetoric rather than addressing the legal issues at hand."
Update 10/10/24, 5:39 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with additional information and background.
Choice-of-SteinsGate on October 11st, 2024 at 06:04 UTC »
Donald Trump has literally been indicted for "defrauding The United States," but both him and his followers praise him as an honest-to-God man, while they attack Kamala Harris for being "fake."
He's been indicted for conspiring to overturn the last election, for trying to install loyalists into positions of power within the DOJ, to help him steal the election, but him and his supporters claim that Democrats stole the election.
He's been indicted for attempting to intimidate state election officials into manipulating the vote for him, he's repeatedly refused to acknowledge how Russian election meddling helped him win his first election, but Trump and his supporters claim that it's his opponents who are interfering in elections.
He's been involved in over 4,000 legal cases, many of which include financial crimes, tax and state law violations, corrupt business practices, multi million dollar disputes and defamation cases. He used his power as president to enrich himself. He has a penchant for obstructing justice. He was convicted of felony fraud and was court ordered to payout millions for misusing charitable funds for political purposes... Takes a breather
Trump management was sued by the DOJ for violating the fair housing act and discriminating against black renters. He's the first president to become a convicted felon, and was recently found guilty of falsifying business records to conceal a crime. He was ordered to pay tens of millions of dollars to victims of his Trump University scheme.
He's been indicted for obstructing the governments efforts to retrieve classified documents scattered all over his Mar-A-Lago residence, and on multiple occasions that we know of, showed those classified materials to people not authorized to view them, all while lying to the DOJ and National Archives for over a year in order to impede their efforts to retrieve those materials.
He also suggested shooting peaceful demonstrators so he could get a proper photo op in front of a church...
This list goes on and on, but for the sake of not running into reddit's character limit I'll say that despite all this, Trump and his supporters praise him as the "Law & Order" candidate while they incessantly accuse his opponents of being corrupt criminals.
Trump also uses Law & Order rhetoric on the campaign trail to promote racist dog whistles in the same way conservatives like George Wallace, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan did back in the 60's and 70s.
Trump has remarked on a number of occasions that he intends to consolidate power if he wins the next election, and put most government agencies under his direct control, including the DOJ, so he can satisfy his lust for vengeance and jail, not investigate, but jail all of his political adversaries.
Trump has used his power, wealth and privilege throughout his entire life and political career to game the justice system and avoid being incriminated. He equates accountability with persecution, and he constantly suggests that he'll disregard the constitution and go after all his critics in the media if he's put back in the Whitehouse.
On more than one occasion, Trump has evaded justice by power of executive privilege and through broad immunities granted to him by a Supreme Court that he packed with kowtowing loyalists. Trump has also been accused of obstructing justice on over a dozen occasions.
And again, despite all of this, Trump and his supporters claim that it's Democrats who have "weaponized the justice system" against Trump.
Trump has been accused of sexual abuse, harassment, and rape by dozens of women, one of whom is his ex-wife. He's been held liable for sexual assault in civil court, while he's responsible for a rise in misogyny and LGBTQ discrimination among many of his young male supporters. Yet it's Democrats (and immigrants) who are the "rapists."
Donald Trump has been caught in so many lies that fact checking him is a full-time job, and at this point, there's no way of counting just how many lies or misleading statements he's shared.
Trump promoted one of the most dangerous lies in recent political history when he claimed that the 2020 election would be "stolen" from him months leading up to the election and since thereafter.
His lies and his incendiary rhetoric facilitated January 6th. His constant soapboxing and demagoguery, his use of inflammatory speech, his incessant promotion of conspiracy theories, misinformation and propaganda, and his antagonistic, fearmongering, sensational rhetoric has catered to extremists and has incited political violence.
Donald Trump is more responsible than any other political figure for inflaming America's culture wars.
His appeal to far right and white supremacist groups has directly led to an increase in domestic terrorist activities in this country. He is personally responsible for dividing and polarizing Americans to such an extreme, that civil unrest is more of a threat to our democracy than it's been in centuries. He has inspired a hate-fueled, fanatical movement of ultra nationalists and nativists whose xenophobic, bigoted, hostile attitudes have become normalized.
Yet again, despite all of this, it's Democrats who are the liars, who are solely responsible for provoking violence, hate and fear...
The party of personal responsibility can't seem to take responsibility for a goddamn thing. Not only that, but they just can't seem to help themselves from projecting all of their corruption, cruelty and crimes on others.
Turuial on October 11st, 2024 at 05:39 UTC »
So this is how Trump's case proceeds, when the judge administrating the trial is neither corrupt nor incompetent.
think_i_should_leave on October 11st, 2024 at 05:36 UTC »
I love this judge