Jack Smith’s Evidence Update as Judge Sets Deadline for Trump

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan has given former President Donald Trump’s legal team deadlines for arguments against special counsel Jack Smith’s plans to publicly release evidence in Trump’s federal election subversion case.

Smith filed a sealed 180-page brief on Thursday containing the government’s evidence against Trump, who has pleaded not guilty to four felony charges related to attempts to overturn the 2020 election result and to the January 6 U.S. Capitol attack that followed.

The special counsel submitted a motion on Friday to publicly release the evidence while redacting some information, such as the names of witnesses who could be “intimidated and threatened” by Trump supporters.

Smith’s proposal would include the release of “quotations or summaries of information” from sensitive sources like “grand jury transcripts, interview reports, or material obtained through sealed search warrants.”

In a brief order, Chutkan on Friday gave Trump’s legal team a deadline of October 1 to respond to Smith’s motion and a deadline of October 10 to respond to the motion’s appendix.

Trump claims to be the victim of a politically motivated “witch hunt” and has accused Smith of attempting to “interfere” in the 2024 presidential election by prosecuting him.

Newsweek reached out for comment to Trump lawyers Todd Blanche and John Lauro via email on Friday.

Smith filed an updated indictment of Trump late last month, retooling the case to comply with the Supreme Court’s recent ruling granting immunity to sitting presidents when conducting certain “official” acts.

The new indictment removes all accusations leveled against Trump regarding attempts to pressure the Department of Justice to falsely declare that President Joe Biden’s 2020 election win was the result of massive fraud.

Trump’s legal team objected to Smith being allowed to file the 180-page evidence brief earlier this week, arguing that a 45-page limit should be enforced and expressing concerns that the “misleading” filing would “undoubtedly enter the dialogue” around this year’s presidential election.

“President Trump is the leading candidate in the Presidential election, which is just weeks away,” Trump’s lawyers wrote. “The Office cannot be permitted to issue a massive and misleading public statement …”

Chutkan granted Smith special permission for the oversized filing, while saying the decision is “simply how litigation works” and dismissing the Trump team’s arguments in objection to the brief and the case schedule as “incoherence.”

Former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance, a frequent Trump critic, argued that the former president’s team was attempting to delay the potential release of evidence beyond the election by objecting to the brief, writing in a blog post that Chutkan was “unimpressed” with the tactic.

Chutkan sparred with Lauro during a Washington, D.C., court hearing on the case schedule earlier this month, with the ex-president’s attorney arguing that the judge should consider that election season is a “sensitive time.”

“This court is not concerned with the electoral schedule,” Chutkan responded, according to CNN. “I am not talking about the presidency … I am talking about a four-count indictment.”