More than 1,800 pages of heavily redacted evidence in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s 6 January case against Donald Trump was released Friday.
The documents mostly rehash information already available publicly, including parts of former Vice-President Mike Pence’s biography and his formal announcement that he would not overturn the 2020 election results.
Trump’s legal team asked US District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan to delay releasing the new evidence until after the 2024 election – less than a month away – but she denied the request.
The new evidence is a part of a motion filed by Mr Smith last month.
The Capitol riot case centres on whether Trump illegally conspired to overturn his 2020 election defeat to Joe Biden.
After the Supreme Court ruled this summer that Trump cannot be prosecuted for official acts carried out as president, Mr Smith was forced to change the historic case and argue that Trump committed crimes while still in office, but as a private citizen.
He filed a new motion in September laying out the new case against the former president, which included allegations that Trump promoted false claims of election fraud despite believing them to be “crazy”.
The motion also included new details on how Trump’s relationship with Pence deteriorated, with the former vice-president telling Trump to stop repeating false election fraud theories and move on.
The 1,889 pages of documents released this week are from appendices and other evidence related to Mr Smith’s new motion.
The documents include transcripts of interviews with the 6 January House committee that investigated the US Capitol riot, parts of Pence’s autobiography and fundraising emails sent to voters.
Trump complained earlier on Friday that Chutkan’s decision to release the evidence amounted to “election interference”, calling the judge “evil”.
Chutkan says that, in fact, because of the election it is her duty to unseal the documents.
“If the court withheld information that the public otherwise had a right to access solely because of the potential political consequences of releasing it, that withholding could itself constitute – or appear to be – election interference,” she wrote in her ruling.
It is unclear if the 6 January case will ever go to trial. Trump, the Republican candidate in the US presidential election in November, is expected to end the prosecution if he returns to the White House.
Trump is facing several other criminal cases. He already has been convicted on 34 felony counts in New York in relation to a hush-money payment.
