Judge agrees to release additional evidence to public in Trump J6 case ahead of election

United States District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan on Thursday agreed to unseal pieces of evidence in special prosecutor Jack Smith's election interference case against former President Donald Trump.

Chutkan previously released Smith's briefing on the case, but will now disclose redacted exhibits that accompanied the brief. The exhibits could include evidence like grand jury transcripts and other texts, per The Hill.

Trump has signaled opposition to unsealing both the brief and the evidence accompanying it, especially with less than one month until November's presidential election. However, Chutkan claimed Trump's concern over the unsealing impacting the 2024 election was not a legal basis to deny Smith's request.

“[T]he court determines that the Government’s proposed redactions to the Appendix are appropriate, and that Defendant’s blanket objections to further unsealing are without merit," Chutkan wrote. "As the court has stated previously, ‘Defendant’s concern with the political consequences of these proceedings’ is not a cognizable legal prejudice."

The development is part of Smith's ongoing effort to prosecute Trump over the January 6 riot in 2021, despite the Supreme Court's ruling that a president is immune to prosecution over issues relating to the Constitutional duties of the office, and has presumptive immunity over actions that are still within his presidential authority. 

Smith has argued that Trump's actions on January 6, where he allegedly tried to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power, were committed as a private citizen and therefore are not protected by the Supreme Court ruling.

Chutkan said that she will delay the release for one week, at Trump's request, while he evaluates litigation options relating to the order. 

“There should be no further disclosures at this time of the so-called ‘evidence’ that the Special Counsel’s Office has unlawfully cherry-picked and mischaracterized — during early voting in the 2024 Presidential election,” Trump’s legal team wrote in an earlier filing Thursday.

The former president's team also has until November 7 to file their rebuttal to Smith's brief.

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.