The Daily Populous Friday October 18th, 2024 night edition
Authored by lawandcrime.com and submitted by HandSack135

Lawyers for former President Donald Trump on Thursday asked the judge in his Jan. 6 prosecution to keep a stay in place for a month so that the defense and special counsel Jack Smith can file their “immunity appendices” at the same time — after the 2024 election has come and gone.

On Oct. 10, several days after Smith’s immunity brief went public, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled that the prosecution’s redacted appendix should also go public since Trump’s “‘concern with the political consequences of these proceedings’ is not a cognizable legal prejudice.” At the same time, the judge stayed her order and gave Trump’s team seven days to “evaluate litigation options.”

Seven days later now, the defense has responded by asking the judge, a Barack Obama appointee, to keep the stay in place until Nov. 14, claiming “the public has been poisoned by a one-sided prosecutorial narrative.”

“If, as here, a prosecutor, during a highly contested political campaign, is granted leave to submit enormous filings publicly examining a President’s decision-making while in office, future Presidents will be far more reluctant to take the ‘bold and unhesitating action’ required of them,” the defense said. “This is true even if ordinary procedures are followed, with the President making the first submission, but it is especially problematic where neither the Constitution, nor the rules of criminal procedure based on our founding principles, have been followed, thus wrongly allowing the prosecution to file first, in anticipation of a motion to dismiss.”

While asserting that a stay extension would not “eliminate these harms” to Trump “and the public,” the defense said it would “at least bring these proceedings closer to a structure mandated by the Supreme Court and Constitutionally required.”

Trump’s lawyers, leaving aside whether Smith’s evidence-related filings actually are “politically motivated” and timed for election season, then cited a series of critical articles — penned by anyone from George W. Bush-era Assistant Attorney General Jack Goldsmith to CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig — to argue that there is at least “a concerning appearance of election interference.”

The defense argued that a stay extension would promote “public confidence in the integrity of these proceedings and a court’s duty to remain apolitical,” similar to an argument that was made in favor of pushing back sentencing in Trump’s hush-money case.

Obama administration and Jan. 6 Committee attorney Eric Columbus, for one, saw the filing as a “prelude” to Trump lawyers asking the U.S. Supreme Court to get involved — again.

This filing (which Judge Chutkan will not grant) is a prelude to Trump seeking relief from SCOTUS. Look for more filings today, maybe an intermediate stop at the DC Circuit (where he won’t win). https://t.co/uXWgz5D6N2 — Eric Columbus (@EricColumbus) October 17, 2024

Marisa Sarnoff contributed to this report.

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magzillas on October 17th, 2024 at 15:09 UTC »

I may have some details wrong so feel free to correct me, but this is my loose understanding of this whole saga:

> SMITH: I would like to release this document explaining why the indictment withstands Trump v. US.

> CHUTKAN: Fair enough. Does the defendant have any objections to the proposed redactions?

> TRUMP: This is election interference!!

> CHUTKAN: Okay, um, not really a legal argument, so I guess no objections to the redactions noted; released with Smith's redactions.

> SMITH: We also have this massive appendix of evidence we would like to release.

> CHUTKAN: Fair eno--

> TRUMP: Give me 7 days to figure out how to stop this.

> ---7 days later---

> TRUMP: This is election interference!!

TrooperJohn on October 17th, 2024 at 14:57 UTC »

If the evidence is NOT released it will alter the election.

We all want to know as much as possible about our candidates, no?

dispelthemyth on October 17th, 2024 at 14:53 UTC »

His delay tactics caused it to be so close to an election,release the kraken