Special Counsel Jack Smith on Friday released nearly 2,000 pages of documents with heavily redacted information in the 2020 criminal election tampering case against the former president donald trump, revealing excerpts of the evidence on which Smith relied to indict the former president.
Most of the pages have been fully redacted and are believed to include grand jury transcripts and notes from FBI interrogations conducted during the years-long investigation.
The documents on view largely contain information that has already been made public, such as the transcript of Trump’s phone call with the Georgia secretary of state after the 2020 election in which Trump asked him to “find” votes, photos of the fake certificates 2020 voter registration and Vice President Mike Pence’s letter to Congress explaining why he could not reject Congress’ certification of the January 6, 2021 election.
What does Trump’s impeachment involve?
But the numbers released on Friday they give an idea of what Smith is using to prosecute Trump. In one case, there were some new details from a transcript of a House committee hearing on January 6, 2022, made by an unidentified White House official.
Earlier this year, House Republicans released the transcript of the committee’s interview with the White House official, but Republicans redacted some of the official’s responses that Smith highlighted.
According to the transcript, the White House official told Trump that the television networks withdrew his speech because “they are rioting at the Capitol.” “And he was, like, what do you mean? I said, there are riots there at the Capitol. And he said, “Really? And then he said, “Okay, let’s see,” said the clerk. The staffer told the committee that he took off Trump’s coat, grabbed a television and gave the remote control to Trump, then went to get a Diet Coke for the president, who was sitting in the oval dining room. “I take off the coat he’s wearing now, I pick up the TV, as if it were ready for him, I hand him the remote control and he starts watching,” said the employee. “And I went out to buy him a Diet Coke, came back and that was it for me, while he watched and watched for himself.”
Redacted exhibits filed in the case’s public records refer to Smith’s extensive testimony earlier this month, which presented the most complete picture yet of the case against Trump and Smith’s belief that his actions surrounding the 2020 election they should not be protected by presidential immunity.
Trump “sees” weakening
The documents were released a day after Judge Tanya Chutkan rejected Trump’s offer to suspend the release. Trump argued that publishing the documents now could be seen as campaign sabotage and asked that they remain sealed until Election Day. “If the court were to withhold information that the public would otherwise have a right to access solely because of the potential political consequences of its disclosure, such withholding could constitute — or appear to constitute — election interference,” Chutkan wrote in his latest ruling. Thursday night.
What do the files contain?
The documents were released in four volumes on Friday. Here is the content between the edited blank pages:
THE first volume of evidence contains excerpts from several House committee hearings on January 6, as part of the committee’s investigation into the Capitol riot.
THE second volume is filled with sealed pages as well as tweets and other social media posts from Trump, his campaign and allies, including some posted during the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
One of the tweets includes Trump’s post that day that Pence “didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done” that day, supporting his effort to change the election results.
Others include a series of allegations of voter fraud during the 2020 election.
Prosecutors argued that these Trump tweets should be able to be used at trial because they were personal or part of his campaign efforts rather than his official duties as president.
THE third volume contains photos of the signed fake voter registration cards that Trump’s allies hoped would help influence the results of the 2020 election, photos of pages from Pence’s 2022 autobiography, as well as the transcript of Trump’s January 2020 phone conversation with the Secretary of State of Georgia.
THE last volume includes memos from attorney John Eastman with a plan for Pence to reject Congress’ certification of the 2020 election. The volume also includes a public statement Trump issued the night before January 6 in which he asserts that he and Pence were on the same page page about the congressional certification, Trump’s prepared remarks for his Jan. 6 speech, and the fundraising emails his 2020 campaign sent in the days leading up to Jan. 6.
The documents also include a copy of a handwritten note asking Pence to “reject” voters, a budget related to January 6, and a transcript of Trump’s 2023 town hall on CNN.
Prosecutors have charged Trump with four felonies arising from his actions after losing the 2020 election, including conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruction. Trump has pleaded not guilty.
In a landmark ruling this summer, the Supreme Court said Trump enjoys partial presidential immunity for alleged crimes he committed while in office.
Source: CNN