Trump can oppose releasing evidence in election interference case, judge rules
“The former president’s lawyers have until Tuesday to argue against the release of a special counsel filing explaining why Trump can be prosecuted.
A federal judge on Friday gave lawyers for Donald Trump four days to challenge the partial public release of a nearly 200-page special counsel filing on why the former president can be criminally prosecuted for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
In an order posted on the public docket of Trump’s criminal case in Washington, U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan gave Trump until noon Tuesday to dispute the government proposals on what to disclose and keep secret in its massive filing, and until Oct. 10 to object to similar proposed redactions in four attached documentary exhibits. The filing is a key part of the criminal case alleging Trump illegally attempted to overturn Joe Biden’s electoral victory, and it was expected to reveal new details of the evidence investigators had gathered.
Prosecutors said the main filing could include roughly 90 pages of new and previously disclosed facts explaining why Trump should still face trial after the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in July that gave presidents broad immunity from prosecution for their official actions.
Chutkan also made public a request by prosecutors to keep certain sensitive information secret in its opening immunity briefing filed Thursday. That sensitive information includes the names of witnesses other than those already identified in Trump’s 36-page indictment — such as former vice president Mike Pence — grand jury testimony, materials obtained through sealed search warrants, transcripts and reports of witness interviews, and materials obtained from other governmental entities, prosecutors wrote.
Prosecutors Thomas Windom and Molly Gaston made the request to withhold some information in a version to be made public later by the court “with the simultaneous goals of providing the Court with a detailed factual proffer; protecting Sensitive Materials and the witnesses whose accounts support that proffer; and allowing an appropriate degree of public access.”
Prosecutors said they were not redacting quotations or summaries of information from sensitive materials, but would blackout citations to their nonpublic sources. In an appendix, nonpublic materials in nonpublic source documents such as grand jury transcripts, witness interview reports and sealed search warrant returns would be redacted entirely.
In line with a gag order in the case, prosecutors said they also proposed limited redactions to some public materials, such as Trump’s social media posts that identified or targeted potential witnesses or people involved in underlying events, because they could be subject to threats, harassment or a chilling effect on their testimony.
Under Chutkan’s order, Trump’s objections to the proposed redactions and presumably any oral argument would be done under seal. Trump’s attorneys and a campaign spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday afternoon.
In court filings, lead Trump lawyers John Lauro and Todd Blanche have argued the timing of the government filing was “fundamentally unfair” or politically motivated with the Nov. 5, 2024, election fast approaching.
A consortium of news organizations, including The Washington Post, also is expected to ask Chutkan to unseal the material, given its newsworthiness and the importance of the underlying issues to the public.
The document is prosecutors’ response to Supreme Court’s July decision which set back special counsel Jack Smith’s case and required Chutkan to decide what charged conduct by Trump involved unofficial acts or acts that could be prosecuted without risk of intruding on the power of the presidency.“
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