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Judge Chutkan Rejects Trump’s Request to Remove Jan. 6 References from Indictment
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan has dismissed former President Trump’s request to eliminate references to the January 6 events from the indictment in the case led by Special Counsel Jack Smith, which focuses on efforts to reverse the 2020 election results.
Trump’s legal team, in a filing from late October, contended that parts of the indictment mentioning independent actions at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, were irrelevant. They argued that since the indictment does not hold Trump accountable for these events, such references are unnecessary and could unfairly influence the case.
Trump’s lawyers urged the court to remove these allegations from the indictment, labeling them as “prejudicial and inflammatory.” However, Smith countered this argument in his own filing earlier in November, stating that the indictment’s contents were neither excessively prejudicial nor inflammatory. He emphasized that the details of the Capitol attack on January 6 are crucial and relevant evidence of Trump’s conduct, motives, and intentions.
On Friday, Judge Chutkan ruled against Trump’s motion to strike these sections from the indictment. In her decision, she addressed both the late October motion and another related filing by Trump’s legal team. Chutkan concluded that Trump had not sufficiently demonstrated that the allegations in question were prejudicial, thereby upholding their inclusion in the indictment.