Jack Smith’s Evidence Against Donald Trump To Be Unsealed, Judge Rules

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.”
“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.