Katie Phang: A few thoughts about Special Counsel Jack Smith's unsealed immunity filing
Last edited Fri Oct 4, 2024, 08:18 AM - Edit history (1)
A few thoughts about Special Counsel Jack Smith’s unsealed immunity filing:
➡️ After he filed a superseding indictment on 8/27/24, Smith filed a “Motion for Immunity Determinations.” Smith filed this Motion with proposed redactions and asked Judge Chutkan to decide whether the redactions were appropriate. Once she made that decision (after considering Trump’s objections), Chutkan then unsealed the redacted Motion and ordered the Clerk of the Courts to publicly file it.
What’s interesting (and great from a transparency standpoint) about this Motion is that it really reads more like a SPEAKING INDICTMENT. A speaking indictment is one which provides more detail than is legally required in order to allege the elements of the crime.
A speaking indictment “tells a story” and provides deeper context and details that help (and often times, influence) the reader.
In this instance, Smith has gone beyond the borders of the superseding indictment and has more fully presented the extent of Trump’s criminality. He has shown the level of what I am calling “premeditation” on the part of Trump and his co-conspirators to knowingly lie about election fraud even before the election itself in November of 2020. The Motion makes clear that Trump’s conniving and planning began months before the election. One example in the Motion dates as far back as July of 2020.
Again, this context provided by Smith’s factually detailed Motion allows for Americans to understand that Trump, acting in his capacity as a private citizen and private candidate for office, always intended to lie about the outcome of the 2020 election in order to remain in power.
Judge Chutkan must be praised for the speed and efficiency by which she has handled this case once it was returned to her from the Supreme Court.
The briefing by the parties on the proposed redactions to Smith’s Motion was completed on October 1st. The very next day, October 2nd, Chutkan ruled that the redacted Motion could be publicly filed.
Although this case won’t proceed to trial before Election Day 2024, Chutkan is ensuring that the judicial process continues apace and is consistent with how she handles her docket of cases.
This is in marked contrast to what we experienced with Judge Aileen Cannon in the classified documents case…
Also, Smith clearly put as much as he could out there for public consumption, but more importantly, because he knows that once Trump’s challenges and objections are overruled by Chutkan, Trump will appeal to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals & then on to SCOTUS.
Smith wrote this Motion with the intent of ensuring that all of the *judges* who read it will be on full-notice of the extent of the evidence against Trump.
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