Special counsel Jack Smith’s insistence on pushing witness testimony into the public’s view ahead of the election is “politically motivated,” Trump’s attorneys wrote in a filing Tuesday.
While prosecutors intend to redact names from the public version of a massive presidential immunity motion they filed under seal last week, they plan to leave “quotations or summaries of information from Sensitive Materials” intact. Trump’s attorneys told Judge Tanya Chutkan this represents an “about-face” from the position Smith took last year when requesting a protective order, where he argued disseminating materials now quoted in the filing would “adversely affect the fair administration of justice.”
“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,” Trump’s attorneys wrote. “The Office wants their politically motivated manifesto to be public, contrary to the Justice Manual and longstanding DOJ norms in cases not involving President Trump, in the final weeks of the 2024 Presidential election while early voting has already begun throughout the United States.”
Trump’s attorneys told Chutkan she should order prosecutors to redact information that could identify witnesses, such as references to titles and positions, and to explain why disclosing “voluminous purportedly sensitive witness statements will not pose risks to potential witnesses and unfairly prejudice the adjudication of this case.” (RELATED: Judge Chutkan Keeps Open Possibility Of Public Seeing Jack Smith’s Evidence Against Trump Before Election)
WALKER, MICHIGAN – SEPTEMBER 27: Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump arrives for a campaign event at the Falk Productions manufacturing facility on September 27, 2024 in Walker, Michigan. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
“The Office believes President Trump’s Constitutional rights to impartial jurors and fair proceedings—to say nothing of witness privacy and even safety—all take a back seat to the Office’s political goals,” Trump’s attorneys wrote. “Indeed, the Office’s implicit position is that all of these important considerations must give way to their objective of providing voters across the country immediate access to an unprecedented filing, with no legal basis, which just so happens to retread false allegations against the leading candidate for the Presidency during early voting for the 2024 election.”
In July, the Supreme Court held that former presidents are immune from prosecution for official acts taken in office, specifically finding allegations about Trump’s interactions with DOJ officials included in the indictment were covered. The majority directed lower courts to sort out the application of presidential immunity to other allegations in the indictment.
Chutkan allowed Smith to file his brief on the issue first over repeated objections from Trump’s attorneys. Smith filed a superseding indictment in late August, which he believes is not covered by presidential immunity, to address the Supreme Court’s ruling.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
