Judge Tanya Chutkan has unsealed significant portions of an evidence dump brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith against former President Donald Trump.
Smith's presentation of this evidence dump to Judge Chutkan is seen as his last act in the indictment against Trump. As the case has ground to a halt and Trump is likely to win the election, there is little chance Smith's indictment will go to trial.
The nearly 1,900 pages of documents collected by Smith’s team were filed under seal to help Judge Chutkan decide what allegations can proceed to trial following the Supreme Court's presidential immunity decision that conferred broad immunity on former presidents for official acts.
This filing also served as political ammunition for Democrats who are desperate to talk about Trump's indictment in light of Vice President Kamala Harris's faltering presidential campaign.
The evidence that Smith presented against Trump has been either largely inconsequential or was already available to the public.
Some of the evidence in Smith's filing was comprised of screenshots of Trump's social media posts about the 2020 election.
Smith had also filed a transcript of the video statement Trump made on Jan. 6, 2021, telling protestors at the Capitol on Jan. 6th to go home, but added: “We love you” and “You’re very special.”
This evidence actually further exonerates Trump as it in no way indicates that Trump was encouraging or inciting an insurrection but rather was encouraging peaceful protest.
Aside from the redacted grand jury transcripts which will remain redacted due to secrecy rules, much of Smith's evidence is the same stuff that Democrats have been talking about for the past four years which indicates just how weak Smith's case really is.
Many people were expecting bombshell revelations that could significantly affect Trump's presidential campaign, or an "October Surprise" of sorts.
However, Smith's filing was anything but that and appears to be a last-gasp effort to hit Trump after a years-long investigation that Democrats would kill any chance of Trump making a political return after his defeat in the 2020 presidential election.
Trump's campaign is on a roll and his momentum has only continued to grow as Kamala Harris falters. After Harris replaced Biden on the Democrat presidential ticket, she received a surge of support but that has since faded.
A concerted media campaign designed to boost Harris could only carry her so far and Harris has wasted that momentum with disastrous public appearances.
Harris is having to campaign on the policies of her predecessor, President Joe Biden, while simultaneously trying to distance herself from those policies. This has created a chaotic and fractured campaign that is completely ineffectual.
Democrats were counting on Jack Smith to put together a criminal case that would sink Trump's campaign because without it he is likely to steamroll Harris in November.