The judge in former President Donald Trump’s federal election interference case on Friday made public more documents from special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the former president just weeks before the 2024 election.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered on Thursday night that additional documents be made public.
The hundreds of pages of documents are Smith’s appendix of exhibits in the fight over whether Trump has a level of presidential immunity that negates the charges against him.
The majority of pages released to the public remain under seal and are not viewable by the public.
Much of the unsealed material has been previously released in some form, including transcripts by the House Select Committee on Jan. 6. Other documents include old Trump campaign press releases, fundraising emails, White House press conference transcripts, and news articles.
In the order to release the documents, Chutkan cited Trump’s claim that the ‘asymmetric release of charged allegations and related documents during early voting creates a concerning appearance of election interference.’
According to the judge, while there is a public interest for courts to avoid involving themselves in elections, ‘it is in fact Defendant’s requested relief that risks undermining that public interest.’
‘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 argued.
She added that the court would continue keeping political considerations out of decisions, despite the defense’s request.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Fox News’ Julia Johnson, Jake Gibson, David Spunt and Bill Mears contributed to this report.