Topline
Former President Donald Trump’s lawyers asked the judge overseeing his federal election case not to publicly release any further information from prosecutors’ wide-ranging filing laying out their case, after the first part of the filing exposed damaging evidence alleging Trump tried to overturn the election despite knowing his fraud claims were false.
Former President Donald Trump appears at a campaign event at the Crown Center Arena on October 4 in … [+]
Key Facts
Trump’s lawyers submitted a brief to the court Thursday opposing proposed redactions to the appendix of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s filing, which would include grand jury transcripts and other evidence that’s excerpted in the already-released part of the filing.
Smith’s filing details prosecutors’ full case against Trump and explains why Smith believes it complies with the Supreme Court’s ruling giving the ex-president some immunity from prosecution based on acts he took while in office, with the government arguing Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election were done in his capacity as a private citizen and political candidate, rather than as president.
It’s unclear what Smith proposed should be redacted, but Trump’s attorneys argued the appendix should be hidden entirely and nothing should be released.
Defense counsel reiterated their previous reasons for not releasing information from the filing—claiming it’s “election interference” and would affect potential witnesses who are mentioned in the filing—which Chutkan has already struck down in earlier rulings, saying Trump’s legal arguments are “focus[ed] on political rhetoric rather than addressing the legal issues at hand” and are “unbefitting of experienced defense counsel.”
If Chutkan does order the appendix to be publicly released—or anything else related to Smith’s filing—Trump’s lawyers asked her to pause the documents being made public “for a reasonable period of time” so Trump can “evaluate litigation options relating to the decision.”
The initial filing included a number of new allegations against Trump, including claims that he knew his election fraud allegations were false—allegedly telling his family, “It doesn’t matter if you won or lost the election. You still have to fight like hell”—and that his reaction to hearing then-Vice President Mike Pence had to be moved to a secure location during the Jan. 6 attack was, “So what?”
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What To Watch For
Chutkan could rule at any time on Trump’s request to keep the appendix hidden—and, if she doesn’t want to hide it or pause it so Trump can pursue litigation, she’s free to release the appendix whenever she chooses. Smith has previously suggested the appendix is more than 30 pages long and much of it will be redacted, as prosecutors said they would redact “non-public Sensitive Materials in their entirety.”
What Else Does Jack Smith’s Filing Say?
Smith’s filing details a range of alleged evidence suggesting Trump and his closest allies knew the fraud claims they were peddling were false. It quotes exchanges that include Trump telling an associate that the “details” of his legal cases alleging fraud “don’t matter,” after the associate said the fraud claims wouldn’t hold up in court, and Trump’s advisor Jason Miller saying, “It’s tough to own any of this when it’s all just conspiracy s–t beamed down from the mothership.” The filing alleges Trump hired attorney Rudy Giuliani to lead his legal team because he “was willing to falsely claim victory and spread knowingly false claims of election fraud,” and that the ex-president and his allies made their fraud claims up “out of whole cloth” and repeatedly changed the number of ballots they claimed were fraudulent. On Jan. 6, Trump sat alone in the White House dining room looking at Twitter while the riot at the Capitol building played out, Smith alleges. While prosecutors aren’t charging Trump for inciting the attack, they allege Trump spoke on the phone with advisor Steve Bannon on Jan. 5 less than two hours before Bannon predicted on his podcast that “all hell is going to break loose” on Jan. 6.
What We Don’t Know
How long Trump’s criminal case for trying to overturn the 2020 election will take to play out. Trump’s suggestion he’ll litigate releasing information from Smith’s filing threatens to further draw out what’s already been a very prolonged legal process, as the case was on hold for months while the Supreme Court considered the immunity issue. Chutkan now has to rule, based on Smith’s filing, on which charges against Trump can still move forward and aren’t restricted by immunity. That decision won’t come until after the election, and Trump is likely to appeal her decision, further prolonging the case and potentially taking it back to the Supreme Court for a second time. The legal proceedings are also all but certain to end entirely if Trump wins the election, as he would likely appoint Justice Department officials who would drop the charges against him.
Key Background
Trump faces four felony charges in federal court for trying to overturn the election, one of four criminal cases that have been brought against the ex-president. Prosecutors accuse Trump of committing conspiracy to defraud, obstruction and conspiracy against rights in his scheme to overturn the 2020 election, which included efforts to pressure state officials and lawmakers to reject the results, pressuring Pence to block the results from being certified and orchestrating a “fake elector” scheme in which GOP officials submitted false slates of electors to Congress. Trump has pleaded not guilty and strongly denounced the case against him as a “witch hunt” designed to harm his presidential campaign. In its ruling giving Trump some immunity, the Supreme Court ruled Trump and other ex-presidents cannot be prosecuted based on their “official acts” in office, but can still face charges for actions stemming from “unofficial” acts outside the scope of their job. Smith filed an updated indictment against Trump in response to the ruling that removed some allegations but kept all the charges against Trump still intact, tweaking the indictment’s language to emphasize their belief Trump was not acting within the scope of his official duties.
