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Trump calls judge 'evil' for releasing case files before election
Donald Trump has called a judge "the most evil person" after she released more than 1,800 pages of evidence in Special Counsel Jack Smith's election conspiracy case against him.
Trump said US District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan's rejection of his request to delay releasing the new evidence until after next month's vote amounted to "election interference".
Legal analysts have debated whether filings in the case breach a justice department internal rule that prosecutors avoid any investigative step that might affect an election within 60 days of voting.
But in her ruling, Judge Chutkan argued that if she had kept the files under wraps, that could itself have been construed as election interference.
"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.
The heavily redacted 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.
The new evidence is a part of a motion filed by Mr Smith last month.
Appearing on Friday during a podcast with right-wing media personality Dan Bongino, Trump also called the special counsel "a sick puppy".
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 on Friday 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.
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.
Last year, a Texas woman was charged with making death threats against Judge Chutkan, citing Trump.
Source: BBC
