Importantly, Judge Tanya Chutkan will now release Special Counsel Jack Smith’s evidence appendix as part of the 165-page “opening brief” used against ex-President Donald Trump in relation to the January 6 investigation. This development is alarming Trump’s legal team who had previously asked to hide the evidence from the public for risking the upcoming 2024 presidential election.
Trump’s legal team argued that revealing this so-called “evidence” would unfairly affect the election, claiming that the Special Counsel’s Office had “cherry-picked and mischaracterized” the information. “There should be no further disclosures at this time… during early voting in the 2024 presidential election,” Trump’s lawyers wrote. They also questioned the timing of the release, calling it a politically motivated “October surprise.”
But Judge Chutkan immediately turned down Trump’s request. Although she agreed to open Jack Smith’s evidence, she held up the release for seven days to allow Trump’s legal team time to consider litigation. Chutkan reiterated that the election was irrelevant to her legal analysis – an affirmation of her commitment to judicial impartiality.
The new evidence will also likely have a profound effect as it is related to Trump’s defence of presidential immunity. Jack Smith has made an adamant opposition to Trump’s immunity claim, refuting the ex-president’s charge that he carried out his duties related to the 2020 election as an official. According to Smith’s contention, Trump acted privately to sabotage the process, Trump was not acting as a presidential when he attempted to reverse the election.
In a filing reviewed by The Gateway Pundit, Smith wrote, “The defendant asserts that he is immune from prosecution for his criminal scheme to overturn the 2020 presidential election… Not so.” Smith claimed that Trump’s actions were part of a private effort, coordinated with co-conspirators, to interfere with the legal vote-counting process, which he said Trump had no official capacity to control as president.
Smith’s dossier even contains, infuriating detail, a supposition of a Trump aide writing, “Let them riot,” in response to concerns about potential violence on January 6. Smith never accused Trump of rioting, but its inclusion, says some, is part of a wider effort to blackmail Trump ahead of the election.
Judge Chutkan’s decision to release the evidence comes after she re-opened a 165-page immunity motion in another case, and many perceived it as detrimental to Trump’s cause only weeks before election day. And as the sealing of this evidence draws near, lawyers and political pundits are eagerly awaiting its effect on the controversial 2024 presidential campaign.
This most recent development is set to increase the legal and political drama surrounding Trump’s candidacy while he’s still the frontrunner in the Republican primary.
To read more updates go to The Gateway Pundit and Politico.
