Judge in Trump 2020 election case reveals more evidence from special counsel

The judge overseeing President Donald Trump’s 2020 election interference case released more evidence collected by special counsel Jack Smith on Friday, revealing a massive trove of heavily redacted documents.

The 1,889 pages of material that Trump’s legal team sought to keep secret are four volumes of an appendix that Smith’s prosecutors filed with a request for presidential immunity revealed earlier this month. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the case, ordered the unsealing of the redacted appendix last week, but delayed publication to give Trump time to appeal their decision.

The new documents include transcripts of court hearings, interviews and speeches related to the case, as well as additional source material. Smith had pointed out that much of the appendix contains confidential information that should remain hidden from the public, and that the published version contains hundreds of pages that remain sealed. That evidence, subject to a protective order issued early in the trial last year, is likely to include transcripts of grand jury statements and FBI interviews.

However, many of the documents contain publicly available information, including voting tabulations and tweets from Trump and others related to the case. Prosecutors also considered Trump’s speech at the White House on January 6, 2021, in which he told a crowd of supporters that he had won the election and said, “We’re going to the Capitol.”

Chutkan, in an order issued Thursday, reiterated her decision to release the appendix, writing that the public is expected to have access to “all aspects of the criminal proceedings.” Trump’s legal team sought to keep the documents secret, arguing that their release could have an impact on the 2024 presidential election. However, Chutkan said she found her arguments unconvincing and would not take political considerations into account when handling the case.

Trump was originally impeached last year. Prosecutors alleged he and his allies orchestrated a broad campaign to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The case was put on hold for months while Trump’s lawyers argued he should be immune from prosecution.

The Supreme Court decided Over the summer, presidents are immune from any “official actions” they take while in office. Smith filed a new indictment limiting the charges to comply with the court’s order. Chutkan is now tasked with determining whether Trump enjoys immunity under the Supreme Court’s framework. He has pleaded not guilty.

Smith’s team filed a motion asking Chutkan to determine that Trump is not immune from prosecution. The motion was repealed on October 2nd. Trump’s lawyers have until November 7th – two days after Election Day – to file their response.

His lawyers argued that Chutkan should not release any further information in the case, saying in a filing that “the asymmetric release of the accused allegations and related documents during early voting creates a troubling appearance of election interference.” However, Chutkan said the court do not limit public access to one side of the case, as Trump and his team could present their own legal arguments and facts.

In a separate order on Wednesday, Chutkan also largely rejected Trump’s demand for prosecutors to seek out and release more information that he believed would aid his defense. Chutkan said prosecutors may have already sought the information Trump wants or they may not have control over it.

Among the evidence Trump unsuccessfully demanded was information about suspected undercover agents at the Capitol on January 6th. Chutkan said the former president “provided nothing more than speculation that there were such undercover agents in the Capitol at all” when Trump’s supporters breached the Capitol building.

contributed to this report.