Trump tells judge that special counsel evidence in January 6 probe shouldn’t be released during election

Donald Trump opposes the release of dozens of heavily redacted exhibits related to the sprawling 165-page brief from special counsel Jack Smith that laid out the election subversion case and asserted the former president is not immune from prosecution.

“There should be no further disclosures at this time of the so-called ‘evidence’ that the Special Counsel’s Office has unlawfully cherry-picked and mischaracterized—during early voting in the 2024 Presidential election—in connection with an improper Presidential immunity filing that has no basis in criminal procedure or judicial precedent,” Trump said in a court filing Thursday.

Earlier this month, the special counsel revealed never-before-seen information from the federal investigation into the Trump election reversal schemes. Smith’s team previously said that it would provide grand jury testimony, notes from FBI interviews and other materials as exhibits for the judge to review. However, it’s likely that those sensitive materials will continue to be shielded from public view.

With Trump making his stance known on the redactions, Judge Tanya Chutkan could release the redacted exhibits at any time, though she may want to take some time to consider Trump’s arguments for holding off before doing so.

Trump argued that even if Chutkan was inclined to release the exhibits, she should hold off so he could consider whether to appeal that ruling.

Compared to Smith’s minimally redacted 165-page brief, the redactions proposed by prosecutors to the exhibits are expected to keep protect the more sensitive evidence in the case, and it’s likely that the exhibits that are disclosed with redactions cover evidence that was already in the public sphere.

The special counsel’s office previously indicated that, for the exhibits, they have “redacted non-public Sensitive Materials in their entirety,” and that they have also even redacted some of the previously-public material, such as the identities of people targeted in Trump tweets, to protect potential trial witnesses from threats and harassment.

Chutkan is currently weighing how much of Smith’s reworked case against Trump survives under the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling handed down this summer, which said that presidents have at least some immunity for official conduct.

Trump will file his response to Smith’s arguments on November 7.