Donald Trump is trying to stop new evidence concerning his role in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol from being released ahead of the election.
In another move to try to staunch the bleeding from special counsel Jack Smith’s incisive investigation, Trump's legal team filed to request that evidence in the case scheduled to become public on Thursday stay sealed. Attorneys for Trump argued that prospective jurors in Trump's election interference case may be prejudiced via “cherry-picked documents” if the documents became public. They asked to pause the release until Trump’s team compiles its response to Smith's bombshell filing after the election.
“[It’s] essential that the public fully understand the arguments and documents on both sides of this momentous issue, and is not misled by one-sided submissions,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.
The ask comes a week after Judge Tanya Chutkan granted Trump’s team a delay in the documents' release. Trump’s attorneys argued in their last-minute filing that they deserved even more time to plot a response to the documents.
Chutkan allowed the release of a 165-page report from Smith’s office earlier this month, detailing Trump's alleged actions on the day that a mob stormed the seat of the U.S. government. Those unsealed docs included allegations that Trump responded “so what?” to reports that Mike Pence was in danger.
In Thursday’s motion, Trump’s team argued that release of testimony was already a boon to Vice President Kamala Harris’s election chances.
“The public has been poisoned by a one-sided prosecutorial narrative that is being used for political purposes by the incumbent administration,” Trump’s attorneys complained, adding that the case had an “improper impact” on the race.
A Trump legal victory on the motion wouldn’t be without precedent. in September, New York Judge Juan Merchan delayed the former president’s sentencing in his criminal fraud case until after the election in an effort to “dispel any suggestion” of political bias.
