By Andrew Goudsward
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. judge on Friday made public more evidence collected by prosecutors in the federal criminal case accusing former President Donald Trump of trying to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election.
The evidence includes material referenced in a sprawling lawsuit from special counsel Jack Smith that was made public earlier this month arguing that Trump, the Republican presidential candidate in this year’s election, is not immune from the remaining allegations in the case .
Smith’s dossier contained few details that had not yet been made public, but provided a detailed account of Trump’s efforts to retain power after his election loss, including descriptions of Trump’s conversations with family members and aides.
A compilation of the evidence was submitted as an attachment to Smith’s filing, but its public release was delayed to give the former president time to object.
Much of the evidence, including reports of witness interviews, transcripts of grand jury testimony and documents obtained through search warrants, have been redacted from public record.
Trump’s lawyers argued that none of the material should be released before the November 5 election and successfully delayed its release for a week. His defense team ultimately chose not to appeal U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan’s decision to release redacted versions of the documents.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to four criminal charges accusing him of a multi-part conspiracy to obstruct the process of collating and certifying the results of his 2020 defeat by Democrat Joe Biden.
The case has been delayed by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that former presidents have broad immunity from official actions taken while in office. It won’t come to trial before the election, when Trump faces Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump has argued that the entire case should be dismissed based on the Supreme Court’s decision. If Trump wins in November, experts believe he will order the US Justice Department to drop the case.
(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
