Legal analyst Sol Wisenberg stated on Fox Business Friday that Judge Tanya Chutkan’s written rationale for not withholding special prosecutor Jack Smith’s evidence against former President Donald Trump was “Orwellian.” The U.S. district judge released a set of redacted documents from Smith’s case against Trump, explaining that, despite opposition from the former president, she believed it would constitute “election interference” not to publicly disclose the materials.
On “The Evening Edit,” Wisenberg argued that it would have been more straightforward for Chutkan to postpone the litigation regarding Trump’s immunity until after the election, pointing out that the “damage” had already been done by releasing Smith’s filing. I think her brief opinion was Orwellian, really,” Wisenberg said. “And really, the damage had already been done by the judge. It would have been easy for her to say, ‘We’re not going to litigate the issue of immunity for former President Trump.’ Which does need to be litigated in light of the Supreme Court opinion. ‘We have a national election coming up,’ is what she should have said, and ‘We’re going to wait until after November to litigate this.’”
“Instead, the real outrage was she allowed Jack Smith, who clearly has been engaged in election interference throughout his whole prosecution, she allowed him to file a 165-page document, a trial brief outlining what his evidence was going to be,” Wisenberg added. “That was the real outrage that happened before the election, and for her to pretend that is normal in any way is just ridiculous to anybody who’s used to practicing in the federal system.”
Fox host Elizabeth MacDonald pressed the legal analyst on what he thinks could happen with the case. Wisenberg predicted “nothing,” asserting that Chutkan has acted “within the bounds of the law.” He said: “Nothing’s going to happen, I mean, what she’s done is within the bounds of the law. This will have whatever effect it’s going to have on the election, and then they’ll proceed.”
He noted further: “But Smith is going to still have a very tough time showing that this conduct is that much of the conduct is non-immunized, so it ain’t over yet. Of course, if Trump wins the election, you can expect him to order the Justice Department to drop the case, and then we’ll have a real interesting time. We’ll see what attorney general decides to obey that … order.”
In September, Smith filed a motion to release the redacted version of his 165-page brief, which addressed the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity in the election interference case against Trump. Chutkan approved the publication of the redacted filing on October 2, with just under 35 days remaining before the election. Trump’s attorneys opposed the release, arguing that it would “amount to an improper motion for summary judgment in the court of public opinion.” However, the district judge stated that there was “no support” for the claims made by Trump’s legal team.
