The judge in Jack Smith's January 6th case granted Donald Trump a small victory, rejecting a push by media organizations to unseal more details in the case.
With a jury trial potentially slipping away, Smith has sought to keep his case in the headlines as early voting begins in the 2024 presidential election. Trump, and legal analysts across the political spectrum, have accused Smith of improperly trying to damage Trump's electoral prospects, as well as his right to a fair trial.
A group of press organizations urged judge Tanya Chutkan, who has consistently ruled against Trump, to unseal more details, citing the public interest in the case, the New York Sun reported.
But Chutkan called the request "largely moot" after she released to the public a redacted 165-page filing from Smith that accused Trump of "resorting to crimes" to stay in power.
The press organizations had requested the immunity filing and its appendix in redacted form - and Chutkan has already agreed to unseal both.
The judge rejected a request to "unseal those filings with only those redactions that are both ‘essential to preserve higher values’ and ‘narrowly tailored to serve that interest.’"
Chutkan defended the redactions as being "consistent with both the common-law and First Amendment rights of public access to judicial proceedings.”
"Applicants’ reliance here on the First Amendment is therefore unavailing; it does not compel unsealing any of the redactions that the court has approved," she wrote.
It's a small victory for Trump, who has accused Chutkan and Smith of jointly waging a witch hunt against him.
The New York Sun noted that Chutkan may be trying to avoid a reversal on appeal, which already happened in the case when the Supreme Court sided with Trump on presidential immunity.
The Supreme Court's ruling forced Smith to tailor his indictment, effectively delaying the trial beyond the election. Smith's "October surprise" immunity filing is meant to convince Chutkan that Trump's alleged crimes are private acts, and not official acts covered by the Supreme Court's ruling.
At the core of Smith's case are accusations about Trump's communications with former vice president Mike Pence - interactions the Supreme Court described as presumptively immune.
Smith controversially kept the Pence accusations in the superseding indictment, despite the Supreme Court's ambivalence about them. Chutkan has to decide whether the Pence allegations can stay - and it's possible the Supreme Court will revisit the issue, putting Smith's case in jeopardy.
Chutkan has been open about the fact that she doesn't care about the political impact of the case, calling it "not relevant" despite Trump's status as a presidential candidate in an extremely polarized race.
The judge has approved the release this Friday of the appendix in Smith's filing, over the objections of Trump's lawyers.
