"Politically motivated manifesto": Trump seeks redactions in Jan. 6 case

By Axios | Created at 2024-10-01 22:37:58 | Updated at 2024-10-02 20:40:27 22 hours ago

Former President Trump claimed in a court filing Tuesday that special counsel Jack Smith is trying to release new evidence and witness testimony in his federal Jan. 6 case just as early voting for the 2024 election begins.

The big picture: Trump has made this argument before in the same case, accusing Smith of trying to influence the outcome of the presidential election.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to all federal charges in the case, including "conspiracy to defraud" the U.S.
Smith filed a slimmed-down, superseding indictment in August, which Trump's legal team opposes, after the conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court ruled that presidents have immunity for "official acts."

State of play: The 2024 Republican presidential nominee is seeking more redactions in a brief Smith filed under seal last week.

The brief allegedly contained previously unseen evidence that could become public before Election Day on Nov. 5.
U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan will decide whether or not to publicly release the brief or a redacted version of it.

Zoom in: Trump's legal team is arguing that prosecutors are trying to publicly release information they were earlier trying to keep sealed without considering "the implications for witnesses, potential jurors, and the integrity of the proceedings."

"The true motivation driving the efforts by the Special Counsel's Office to disseminate witness statements that they previously sought to lock down is as obvious as it is inappropriate," the court filing states. "The Office wants their politically motivated manifesto to be public ..."

The other side: Prosecutors filed their brief in response on Tuesday, arguing that their proposed redaction of names only is consistent with the approach taken in the superseding indictment and "is sufficient to protect witnesses from harassment while permitting an appropriate degree of public access."

Additionally, Trump's allegation of "improper political considerations ... is false—just as it was false when the Court denied the defendant's motion to dismiss the case on grounds of selective and vindictive prosecution," the filing states.
"The Special Counsel's mandate is to uphold the law," prosecutors said. "It has no role or interest in partisan politics and has faithfully executed its prosecutorial duties in this case."
A representative for Smith's team declined to comment.

Catch up quick: Smith in the brief last week outlined legal arguments for criminally prosecuting the Republican presidential nominee over efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.