Special Counsel Jack Smith on Friday released nearly 2,000 heavily redacted pages of documents in his 2020 election subversion criminal case against former President Donald Trump, revealing excerpts of the evidence Smith relied on to accuse the former president.
Most of the pages are completely redacted and are believed to include grand jury transcripts and notes from FBI interviews conducted during the years-long investigation.
The documents that are visible largely contain information that has already been released publicly, including a transcript of Trump’s call with the Georgia secretary of state after the 2020 election where Trump asked him to “find” votes, photos of election certificates 2020 fakes and Vice President Mike Pence’s letter to Congress explaining why he could not reject Congress’ certification of the election on January 6, 2021.
But the evidence released publicly on Friday gives an idea of what Smith is using to prosecute Trump. In one case, new details emerged in the transcript of the January 6 House committee’s 2022 interview with an unidentified White House official.
Earlier this year, House Republicans released a 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 TV networks stopped airing his speech because “they were rioting at the Capitol.”
“And he was, like, What do you mean? I said, Yeah, like, they’re rioting there at the Capitol. And he was, like, Oh, really? And then he was like, Alright, let’s see,” the employee said.
The staffer told the committee that he took off Trump’s outer coat, picked up a TV and handed Trump the remote control, then went to get a Diet Coke for the president, who was sitting in the Oval Office dining room.
“I’m taking off the outer coat that he’s wearing right now, and I get the TV ready for him, and I hand him the remote, and he starts watching,” the employee said. “And I went out to get him a Diet Coke, came back, and that’s pretty much it for me because he’s watching everything and, like, seeing it for himself.”
The redacted appendices filed in the public docket in the case relate to Smith’s sweeping order earlier this month, which laid out his most complete picture yet of the case against Trump and Smith’s belief that his actions surrounding the 2020 election should not have be protected by presidential immunity.
The documents were released a day after Judge Tanya Chutkan rejected a proposal from Trump to pause disclosure. Trump argued that posting the documents now could be seen as electoral inference and asked that they remain confidential until after Election Day.
“If the court withheld information that the public would otherwise have a right to access solely because of the potential political consequences of disclosing it, such withholding could constitute — or appear to be — election interference,” Chutkan wrote in a ruling Thursday. fair at night.
What’s in the archives
The first volume of evidence contains excerpts from several January 6 House committee interviews as part of the panel’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 Capitol riot.
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 to support his effort to change the results of the election.
Others include myriad allegations of voter fraud during the 2020 election.
Prosecutors argued that these Trump tweets should have been allowed to be used at trial because they were personal in nature or part of his campaign efforts rather than his official duties as president.
The third volume contains photos of the signed fake election certificates that Trump’s allies hoped would help overturn the 2020 election results, photos of pages from Pence’s 2022 autobiography, and the transcript of Trump’s January 2020 call with the secretary state of Georgia.
The final 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 that Trump released the night before January 6 claiming that he and Pence were on the same page about the congressional certification, Trump’s prepared remarks for his Jan. 6 speech, and fundraising emails sent by his 2020 campaign in the days leading up to Jan. 6.
The documents also include a copy of a handwritten note containing a request for Pence to “reject” voters, a budget related to January 6, and a transcript of Trump’s press conference. CNN in 2023.
Prosecutors have charged Trump with four felonies arising from his actions following his 2020 election defeat, including conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruction. Trump has pleaded not guilty.
In a mid-year ruling, the Supreme Court said Trump enjoys partial presidential immunity for alleged crimes he committed while in office. Chutkan must now decide how to apply that ruling to the conduct at issue in this case.
This content was originally published in Trump watched the invasion of the Capitol drinking soda, indicates a report on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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