A federal appeals court ordered the release of documents showing how prosecutors fought to obtain testimony from Donald Trump's top aides and officials in the Jan. 6 investigation.
The three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously to allow those grand jury fights to be publicly released, although the ruling found the records were properly kept secret at first, and special counsel Jack Smith's office confirmed the existence of those legal battles shortly after Trump was charged last year, reported Politico.
“The district court’s decision was correct when it issued. But things have changed,” the judges wrote. “There is little doubt that the Office of Special Counsel’s disclosure of the privilege disputes substantively and materially changed the state of play in this case and its impact on the merits of Politico’s request for disclosure should be considered.”
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It's not clear whether Smith would appeal the decision to the full appeals court of U.S. Supreme Court, but the release of those documents would show the lengths prosecutors went to as they sought testimony from former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, White House counsel Pat Cipollone and top aides to former vice president Mike Pence.
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Politico filed a petition seeking the court records in October 2022 after some details of the legal battle appeared on the appeals court docket, revealing that Smith was seeking testimony from Pence aides Marc Short and Greg Jacob, and the New York Times filed a parallel request in district court at the time but did not join the appeal.
The Justice Department had asked the appeals court to uphold a lower court ruling and require Politico to file a new petition, but the appellate judges said that would "needlessly delay" a decision.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in Washington, D.C., had ruled against the requests in February 2023, shortly before her seven-year term as chief judge ended and Judge James Boasberg took over that post.
