Donald Trump has sharply criticised US District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan after she released over 1,800 pages of evidence in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s election conspiracy case against him.
Trump, the Republican frontrunner for the 2024 presidential election, labelled the judge “the most evil person” for rejecting his request to delay the release until after next month’s vote. He claimed that her decision amounted to “election interference.”
Legal experts have been debating whether releasing the evidence breaches a Justice Department guideline that discourages any investigative step that could impact an election within 60 days of voting.
However, Judge Chutkan argued that withholding the files could also be perceived as interference. “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,” she stated.
The newly released evidence, which consists of 1,889 heavily redacted pages, mostly reiterates information already available, such as excerpts from former Vice-President Mike Pence’s autobiography and his formal refusal to overturn the 2020 election results.
During an appearance on Dan Bongino’s podcast, Trump lambasted Judge Chutkan and referred to the special counsel as “a sick puppy.” He also compared the detention of those involved in the January 6 Capitol riot to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
The indictment stems from Trump’s alleged efforts to illegally overturn the 2020 election defeat to Joe Biden. While a previous ruling by the Supreme Court found that Trump cannot be prosecuted for official acts carried out as president, the special counsel has shifted his case to focus on crimes committed while Trump was still in office, but acting as a private citizen.
The new motion includes allegations that Trump continued to spread false election fraud claims despite knowing they were untrue.
The release of this evidence raises questions about whether the 6 January case will ever go to trial, especially if Trump is re-elected and chooses to end the prosecution.
Meanwhile, the former president faces several other criminal cases, including a conviction on 34 felony counts in New York related to a hush-money payment.
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