Trump docs suggest former president had a Diet Coke while watching Jan. 6 riots
NEW YORK - A federal court has released a dossier of evidence from special counsel Jack Smith in Donald Trump’s election interference case.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan approved its release on the federal criminal docket in Washington, D.C., late Thursday, despite Trump’s weeks-long attempts to keep it private.
In her five-page ruling, Judge Chutkan stated that the strong public interest in the documents outweighs the argument for withholding them until after Election Day.
FILE - Supporters of US President Donald Trump protest inside the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington, DC. (Brent Stirton/Getty Images)
What's in the docs?
Nearly 1,900 pages of documents collected by special counsel Jack Smith’s team reveal snippets of the evidence Smith relied on to charge the former president.
The majority of the pages released Friday were whited-out.
Other information visible to the public includes:
- Passages from former Vice President Mike Pence’s book
- Excerpts of testimony provided by several witnesses to the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 riot
- Transcript of Trump’s phone call pressuring Georgia election officials to "find" enough votes to reverse his election loss in the state to Democrat Joe Biden
Other documents include fundraising emails from Trump’s 2020 campaign and Pence’s letter to Congress on Jan. 6 stating he couldn’t unilaterally decide which electoral votes to count.
Trump's diet coke
Earlier this year, a transcript of the committee's interview with a Trump White House employee was released with redacted responses that Smith highlighted.
In the recent release, the transcript reveals that the employee told the committee he took off Trump’s coat, set up a TV, handed him the remote before getting a Diet Coke for the president, who was sitting in the Oval Dining Room.
The filing was submitted as a series of appendices to a 165-page brief unsealed this month in which prosecutors disclosed new evidence against Trump to support their argument that the former president is not entitled to immunity from prosecution.
The evidence features testimony from the House committee that investigated the January 6 attack, along with grand jury statements and other sealed records.
FILE - Rioters storm the United States Capitol building on Jan. 6. (Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)
What is Trump accused of?
Trump is accused of attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, which he lost to Joe Biden. He faces charges of obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to obstruct, conspiracy to defraud the U.S., and conspiracy against the right to vote.
The new dossier follows a court filing from Oct. 2, which claims Trump "resorted to crimes" in his failed effort to retain power. The Justice Department contends these actions do not grant him immunity from prosecution as a former president.
Trump’s attorneys are expected to file their own brief of up to 180 pages arguing why he should not face trial after the Supreme Court’s July ruling that presidents have broad immunity from criminal prosecution for their official acts.