A federal judge on Thursday approved the public release of redacted source documents that helped inform special counsel Jack Smith’s explosive 165-page legal brief arguing that Donald Trump can still face prosecution for trying to subvert the results of the 2020 election, but gave the former president seven days to take steps to block the disclosure, the Washington Post reports. In a two-page order, U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan ordered the release of a four-part appendix — with potentially significant redactions — listing the sources of quotes and information to support last week’s filing, which was meant to detail how the case could go forward after the Supreme Court ruled this summer that Trump enjoyed broad immunity.
That Supreme Court ruling forced prosecutors to return a slimmed-down indictment alleging Trump conspired to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 election by using knowingly false claims about election fraud to obstruct the government’s processes for collecting, counting and certifying the vote. The justices left it to Chutkan to sort out how to move forward. Prosecutors said the appendix could include information and quotations from public material — such as congressional Jan. 6 witness transcripts — but that information from nonpublic sources such as grand jury transcripts, witness interview reports and sealed search warrant returns would remain redacted. For their part, Trump lawyers John Lauro and Todd Blanche had asked the judge to keep the appendix hidden from public view. The judge said she found his defense’s “blanket objections to further unsealing are without merit,” and that its concern with the political consequences on his 2024 Republican presidential campaign “is not a cognizable legal prejudice.” Still, Chutkan gave Trump’s lawyers a week to “evaluate litigation options.”