Today was the deadline Judge Chutkan set for Trump to object to any of the specific redactions Jack Smith had proposed in the appendix to his motion on immunity.
MINUTE ORDER as to DONALD J. TRUMP: The Clerk of the Court is directed to file on the public docket the Government’s “Motion for Leave to File Unredacted Motion Under Seal, and to File Redacted Motion on Public Docket,” ECF No. 245. It is hereby ORDERED that Defendant shall file under seal any objections to the proposed redactions in the Government’s Motion for Immunity Determinations by 12:00 PM on October 1, 2024, and shall file under seal any objections to the proposed redactions in the Appendix to that Motion by 5:00 PM on October 10, 2024. Signed by Judge Tanya S. Chutkan on 9/27/2024. (zcll)
Rather than object, Trump filed another whining complaint about the election. Predictably, he cited the ill-informed rants of Elie Honig and Jack Goldsmith.
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. President Trump maintains his objections, see ECF No. 248, based on overt and inappropriate election interference, violations of longstanding DOJ policy, the Office’s previous safety-related representations in this District and the Southern District of Florida, grand jury secrecy, and the influence on potential witnesses and jurors of prejudicial pretrial publicity—which predictably followed from the filing of the redacted “Motion for Immunity Determinations.”2
2 See, e.g., Ellie Honig, Jack Smith’s October Cheap Shot, N.Y. Magazine (Oct. 3, 2024), https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/jack-smith-october-surprise-donald-trump.html; see also Jack Goldsmith, Jack Smith Owes Us an Explanation, N.Y. Times (Oct. 9, 2024), https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/09/opinion/jack-smith-trump-biden.html.
Given that she again got no specific objections to the redactions Jack Smith opposed, Judge Chutkan approved the posting of the appendix (which must be about 1500 pages).
Defendant has now filed an opposition objecting to unsealing any part of the Appendix. ECF No. 259. As in his previous filing, he identifies no specific substantive objections to particular proposed redactions. Instead, Defendant “maintains his objections” to any “further disclosures at this time” for the same reasons he opposed unsealing the Motion, and he requests that “[i]f the Court decides to release additional information relating to the Office’s filing, in the Appendix or otherwise, . . . that the Court stay that determination for a reasonable period of time so that [he] can evaluate litigation options relating to the decision.” Id. at 1–2. For the same reasons set forth in its decision with respect to the Motion, ECF No. 251, the court determines that the Government’s proposed redactions to the Appendix are appropriate, and that Defendant’s blanket objections to further unsealing are without merit. As the court has stated previously, “Defendant’s concern with the political consequences of these proceedings” is not a cognizable legal prejudice. Id. at 4–5.
Accordingly, the Government’s Motion for Leave to File to Unredacted Motion Under Seal, and to File Redacted Motion on Public Docket, ECF No. 246, is GRANTED with respect to the Government’s proposed redacted version of the Appendix to the Government’s Motion for Immunity Determinations.
But she gave Trump a week to — as he described — “evaluate litigation options.”
The court will grant Defendant’s request for a stay so that he can “evaluate litigation options,” ECF No. 259 at 2, and hereby STAYS this decision for seven days.
I await the opinion of smart lawyers. But Judge Chutkan seems to be engaged in a bit of judicial rope-a-dope. The most obvious legal option Trump has is an Emergency Temporary Restraining Order against posting the appendix, but he has just foregone two opportunities to make specific objections. He would face an even bigger problem if he tried to get a writ of mandamus against Judge Chutkan, partly because he did have alternative recourse (specific objections) and partly because she’s literally doing what SCOTUS told her to do.
We shall see. For the moment, though, Trump seems poised to draw more attention to what was largely a restatement of what we already knew.