Judge releases more evidence against Donald Trump in January 6 case

The judge overseeing the federal wire interference case 2020 elections against Donald Trump published more evidence on Friday collected by the special prosecutor Jack Smith, revealing a huge batch of records with many redactions.

The 1,889 pages of material, which Trump’s legal team had tried to keep secret, constitute four volumes of an appendix that prosecutors filed to support special counsel Jack Smith’s superseding indictment arguing why Donald Trump can be criminally prosecuted for trying to subvert the results of the 2020 elections

District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the case, ordered the opening of the appendix with censorship strikes last weekbut delayed publication to give Trump time to challenge his decision.

The nearly 2,000 documents, mostly with redacted elements, include Trump’s posts on social network X, formerly Twitter, as well as documents drafted by the former president’s lawyer and former advisor, John Eastman.

They also include interviews with Trump associates conducted by the congressional committee that investigated the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Smith had indicated that Much of the appendix contains sensitive information that should remain hidden from the public, and the published version contains hundreds of pages that remain secret. That evidence, subject to a protective order issued at the start of the case last year, likely includes transcripts of grand jury testimony and FBI interviews.

But many of the documents include publicly available informationincluding vote tabulations.

Prosecutors also included Trump’s speech near the White House on January 6, 2021, in which he told a crowd of supporters that he won the election and said “let’s go to the Capitol.”

That day, about 10,000 Trump supporters marched to the headquarters of Congress and broke into the building while Joe Biden’s victory in those elections was being certified. In the assault on the Capitol there were a total of five deaths and nearly 140 agents were injured by the attackers.

Judge Chutkan reiterated her decision to release the addendum in an order issued Thursday, reasoning that the public is presumed to have access to “all facets of criminal judicial proceedings.”

Trump’s legal team attempted to keep the records under wraps, arguing that their release could influence the 2024 presidential elections, but Chutkan said he did not find their arguments persuasive and would not take political considerations into account in conducting the case.

Last year, Trump pleaded not guilty of federal charges of carrying out a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election in order to remain in power.

Smith later charged Trump in a superseding indictment that was adjusted to respect the Supreme Court’s July ruling that Trump is entitled to immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts performed as president. The appendix that was released on Friday is the evidence that supports the substitute accusation.

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