Judge allows release of documents in Trump election interference case

Federal Judge Tanya Chutkan has allowed special counsel Jack Smith to unseal new documents related to former President Donald Trump’s election interference case. Chutkan blocked Trump’s request to delay the release of the documents until after the election.

Instead, she argued that withholding the documents could be viewed as election interference.

The newly revealed documents come weeks after Smith claimed that Trump made a “private criminal effort” to try to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

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The documents were published in several volumes and contained 2,000 pages of mostly redacted material. Much of the unredacted material included already public information, including tweets from the former president, news statements, as well as things previously revealed during the House hearings on the January 6, 2021 insurrection.

The volumes also reveal that Smith used information collected during the House investigation, such as text messages and meeting notes, to make his case against Trump.

Earlier this month, Smith released a 165-page document to show that there is evidence that Trump committed criminal acts outside of presidential immunity outlined in the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in July.

Trump faces criminal charges including conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, and obstruction and attempted obstruction of an official proceeding. A trial date was not announced as Chutkan waited for the Supreme Court to rule on what type of immunity would be granted to sitting presidents.

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