Special counsel Jack Smith’s team is challenging a judge’s decision to unredact portions of motions for discovery in former President Donald Trump’s documents case, citing concerns about potential harm to witnesses.
Smith’s team argued that the unredacted material could expose witnesses to threats, intimidation, and harassment.
“That discovery material, if publicly docketed in unredacted form as the Court has ordered, would disclose the identities of numerous potential witnesses, along with the substance of the statements they made to the FBI or the grand jury, exposing them to significant and immediate risks of threats, intimidation, and harassment, as has already happened to witnesses, law enforcement agents, judicial officers, and Department of Justice employees whose identities have been disclosed in cases in which defendant Trump is involved,” the filing read.
They also revealed ongoing investigations into online threats made to potential witnesses.
The filing emphasized the need to prevent harm to witnesses and the judicial process before dysfunction affects the trial.
“The Court’s conclusion that the Government’s witness-safety concerns are too speculative or generalized is misplaced,” the filing said. “A court’s duty is to prevent harms to the witnesses or the judicial process ‘at their inception,’ before they are realized and dysfunction envelops the trial.”
Smith’s team argued that the judge applied the wrong legal standard and requested reconsideration to correct the error.
“The Eleventh Circuit has held that the compelling-interest standard applied by the Court does not apply to ‘documents filed in connection with motions to compel discovery,’ which instead may be sealed or redacted simply upon a showing of ‘good cause,’” the filing read.
“Because the Court applied the wrong legal standard… reconsideration is warranted to ‘correct clear error.'”
Read Also:
Trump Reveals 2 Names For His Final VP Pick
Biden Commits Another Gaffe Amid Mounting Criticism
