Continue reading.Donald Trump didn’t want Judge Tanya Chutkan to publicly release the appendix Special Counsel Jack Smith attached to his motion arguing that all of the charges against Trump could move forward despite the Supreme Court’s ruling in the immunity appeal. The appendix contains the evidence that Smith argues is admissible to support the charges against Trump.
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Judge Chutkan has a reputation for being efficient and no-nonsense. She lives up to it here.
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Trump filed a request that she delay [the release] just “briefly” until November 14, which happens to fall conveniently after the election.
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Trump asked the Judge to delay the release so he could release his own appendix. He claimed that was necessary because Jack Smith is "cherry-picking" the evidence, and even if he doesn’t intend to interfere with the election, that’s the effect. Judge Chutkan has repeatedly reminded Trump’s lawyers she’s running a courtroom, not an election.
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Judge Chutkan’s response didn’t take long. She denied Trump’s request this [...] in a five-page order. The appendix will be unsealed [today], Friday.
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Chutkan’s opinion is five devastating pages long. She makes a few key points that are worth noting.
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She writes, “it is in fact Defendant’s requested relief that risks undermining that public interest: If the court withheld information that the public otherwise had a right to access solely because of the potential political consequences of releasing it, that withholding could itself constitute—or appear to be—election interference. The court will therefore continue to keep political considerations out of its decision-making, rather than incorporating them as Defendant requests.
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Chutkan lays out the six factors courts have used to perform this balancing test before, noting that Trump doesn’t “engage” with any of them. Instead, she writes, Trump offered “other interests” as justification for keeping the appendix under seal. She concludes none of them are persuasive.
Joyce Vance
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
UPDATE 02:22 pm:
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