Special Counsel Jack Smith’s legal team may not have managed to bring the D.C. prosecution of former President Donald Trump over alleged 2020 election interference to trial ahead of the 2024 presidential election, but Judge Tanya Chutkan’s rulings on the timing and scope of pleadings to be filed with the court in order to determine which, if any, of Trump’s alleged conduct may be entitled to presidential immunity have opened the door for the next best thing.
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On October 10, Chutkan granted the Government’s motion for leave to file its redacted motion for the court’s determination on the immunity issue on the public docket — i.e., make it publicly available. However, Chutkan stayed her decision from taking effect for one week to allow Trump’s legal team to evaluate their legal options.
On Thursday, Trump’s team filed a motion to continue the stay until November 14, arguing, in part, that allowing the “asymmetric release of charged allegations and related documents during early voting creates a concerning appearance of election interference.” Chutkan denied that motion, however, and indicated that she would lift the stay of her prior order on Friday, which she then did, directing the Clerk of the Court to docket the Government’s redacted appendices (laying out their evidence) on the public docket.
Of note, in making that ruling, Chutkan determined that publicly docketing the Government’s evidence against Trump less than three weeks ahead of Election Day did not create such a concerning appearance. Rather, Chutkan reasoned that not doing so would run the risk of creating the appearance of election interference:
[I]t is in fact Defendant’s requested relief that risks undermining that public interest: If the court withheld information that the public otherwise had a right to access solely because of the potential political consequences of releasing it, that withholding could itself constitute—or appear to be— election interference.
And then, to add a dollop of irony to the gaslight sundae, Chutkan added:
The court will therefore continue to keep political considerations out of its decision-making, rather than incorporating them as Defendant requests. Any argument about “what needs to happen before or shouldn’t happen before the election is not relevant here.”
So, in one breath, she says she’s going to allow the Government to present its case publicly (when Trump’s response isn’t due to be filed until after the election) for fear that not doing so would appear to be election interference, and in the next, she’s saying that the court will “continue to keep political considerations out of its decisionmaking.”
Pursuant to the order, the Government’s 1889 pages of filings were publicly docketed Friday morning.
The majority of pages released to the public remain under seal and are not viewable by the public. Much of the unsealed material has been previously released in some form, including transcripts by the House Select Committee on Jan. 6. Other documents include old Trump campaign press releases, fundraising emails, White House press conference transcripts and news articles.
The Trump campaign responded soon after, referring to the case as a sham and a partisan witch hunt.
“Radical Democrats are hell-bent on interfering in the presidential election on behalf of Lyin’ Kamala Harris,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital. “With just over two weeks until Election Day, President Trump is dominating this race and Crazed Liberals throughout the Deep State are freaking out.”
Cheung added, “As mandated by the Supreme Court’s historic decision on Presidential Immunity and other vital jurisprudence, this entire case is a sham and a partisan, Unconstitutional Witch Hunt that should be dismissed entirely — as should ALL of the remaining Democrat hoaxes.”
The legacy media may be breathlessly pouring through the documents, but if past is prologue, the filings may not have quite the devastating effect on Trump that the Democrat powers that be are hoping they will. We shall see.
