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Trove of Jack Smith’s evidence against Trump remains largely shielded from public view after all

Most of the documents remain redacted. And the unredacted documents are mostly not new.

Kyle Cheney

Donald Trump’s opponents were hoping for more bombshells in Jack Smith’s final document dump before the election. On Friday, those hopes fizzled.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan unsealed portions of four large volumes of the special counsel’s evidence against Trump — but most of the materials remained redacted from public view. And the small number of materials that were released on the court docket consisted almost entirely of previously public documents.

Trump’s lawyers had fiercely protested any release of Smith’s evidence, leading some observers to speculate that the documents might contain further damaging revelations about Trump’s bid to subvert the 2020 election results.

But the documents unsealed on Friday were largely already known: records of Trump’s tweets, press releases, elector certificates and witness transcripts compiled by the House Jan. 6 select committee.

Smith has used those documents to support his argument that Trump is not immune from the criminal charges he is facing for conspiring to upend the transfer of power. He presented that argument in a 165-page brief, unsealed earlier this month, that laid out his case against the former president in vivid detail.

In the materials unsealed Friday, there was one document that previously had not been public: an unredacted excerpt of a Jan. 6 committee interview with Trump’s White House valet.

The valet told the committee that on the day of the Capitol attack, Trump returned to the White House at around 1:21 p.m. and asked to see footage of his speech to supporters on the Ellipse. The valet, who appeared to be reviewing photos of his interaction with Trump, told the committee he informed Trump that coverage of his speech was interrupted by footage of the riot at the Capitol.

“It was ‘sir, they cut if off because they’re rioting down at the Capitol,’” the valet recalled saying. “And he was like, ‘What do you mean?’ I said, ‘It’s, like, They’re rioting down there at the Capitol.’ And he was like ‘Oh, really?’ And then he was like ‘All right, let’s go see.’”

The valet, who was unnamed in both the Jan. 6 committee transcript and the version released by Smith, then described getting Trump a Diet Coke while he watched the speech and riot footage.