The judge in Donald Trump's election-fraud case has rejected all of the former president's arguments for sealing evidence in the case. Judge Tanya Chutkan will unseal the evidence appendix on Friday, despite Trump saying that it will be used against him by the Kamala Harris presidential campaign. The Republican nominee is accused of conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights in connection with an alleged pressure campaign on state officials to reverse the 2020 election results.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him and repeatedly stated that he is the victim of a political witch hunt. He has accused special counsel Jack Smith of attempting to interfere in the 2024 presidential election by prosecuting him. Newsweek sought comment via email from Trump's attorney on Friday. Former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance wrote that Chutkan's Thursday ruling "easily swats aside all of Trump's arguments," which included the former president's claim that it could damage him politically.
Writing in her legal blog, Civil Discourse, on Friday, Vance said that Judge Chutkan had very firmly dealt with Trump's political argument, especially as the legal submission by her lawyers suggested that releasing the evidence would be election interference. "Here, Judge Chutkan's response is strong and irrefutable, especially in light of the strong presumption courts will make proceedings in a criminal case available to the public," Vance noted.
She noted that Chutkan directly countered Trump's argument with the words: "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." Vance wrote that Chutkan "has a reputation for being efficient and no-nonsense" and that "she lives up to it here."
In a filing earlier on Thursday, Trump's lawyers warned that the release of the new evidence could endanger potential witnesses, "especially in light of the extraordinary media coverage of this case and the Presidential election that is less than 3 weeks away—and also irreparably harm President Trump." The former president's legal team added that Harris has been using the released evidence on YouTube ads for her presidential campaign.
On October 2, Chutkan unsealed a 165-page evidence brief in the case. That document made headlines around the world and contained fresh information about Trump's alleged activities during the January 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol riot. It included his alleged indifference to the fate of then-Vice President Mike Pence as pro-Trump rioters hunted for him in the Capitol. It also showed that Trump had tried to get support for a flawed report into alleged voter-machine fraud in Michigan.
Friday's release concerns a substantial appendix to the 165-page evidence brief. That appendix has never been seen by the public and contains further allegations against the former president.
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