(Photo
by
David
Becker/Getty
Images)
Donald
Trump’s
lawyers
are
trying
something
new
in
the
election
interference
case,
and
that
thing
is
civility.
Since
August
of
2023,
attorneys
John
Lauro
and
Todd
Blanche
have
larded
their
pleadings
with
invective,
calling
the
special
counsel
a
puppet
of
the
Biden
administration
who
timed
his
filings
to
protect
his
“boss’s”
flagging
electoral
prospects
and
characterizing
the
judge’s
own
orders
as
lawless.
In
their
very
last
filing
in
this
case,
Lauro
and
Blanche
accused
Special
Counsel
Jack
Smith
of
presenting
“so-called
‘evidence’”
which
he
had
“unlawfully
cherry-picked
and
mischaracterized,”
in
an
act
of
“overt
and
inappropriate
election
interference.”
This
act
was
a
brief
defending
its
superseding
indictment
in
light
of
the
Supreme
Court’s
presidential
immunity
decision
in
July.
Trump
characterized
the
filing
as
“improper,”
despite
the
fact
that
Judge
Tanya
Chutkan
herself
ordered
the
prosecutor
to
file
it.
The
special
counsel
filed
an
appendix
to
that
brief
under
seal,
and
Judge
Chutkan
invited
the
defendant
to
comment
on
the
proposed
redactions.
He
did
not
comment
on
the
proposed
redactions,
which
he
had
referred
to
as
“impotent”
in
a
prior
filing.
Instead
he
asked
the
court
to
“stay
that
determination
for
a
reasonable
period
of
time
so
that
President
Trump
can
evaluate
litigation
options
relating
to
the
decision.”
Noting
that
“[a]s
in
his
previous
filing,
he
identifies
no
specific
substantive
objections
to
particular
proposed
redactions,”
the
court
nonetheless
granted
Trump
seven
additional
days
before
publishing
the
redacted
filing
on
the
public
docket.
Presumably
the
court
thought
Trump
would
race
to
the
Circuit
Court
or
perhaps
the
Supreme
Court
in
advance
of
the
deadline
expiring
today
seeking
mandamus
or
at
least
an
administrative
stay.
But
he
didn’t
do
that
either.
Instead
he
filed
yet
another
motion
asking
for
the
exact
same
relief,
but
this
time
with
about
75
percent
less
incendiary
rhetoric.
After
trying
literally
everything
else,
Trump
is
trying
to
act
normal
for
the
first
time
in
this
case.
Well,
normalish.
What
he’s
asking
for
is
still
batshit
and
stupid.
But
at
least
he’s
being
polite
…
graded
on
a
curve.
He
asks
Judge
Chutkan
to
stay
release
of
the
appendix
until
his
own
response
is
released
on
November
14.
That
document
is
due
on
the
7th,
and
will
remain
under
seal
for
a
week
to
allow
the
parties
to
argue
about
redactions,
and
Trump
suggests
that
potential
jurors
will
be
less
poisoned
by
seeing
the
two
filings
together.
“[I]f
the
Court
immediately
releases
the
Special
Counsel’s
cherry-picked
documents,
potential
jurors
will
be
left
with
a
skewed,
one-sided,
and
inaccurate
picture
of
this
case.
Those
same
potential
jurors
may
not
see
President
Trump’s
later
responsive
filing,
and
even
if
some
do,
first
impressions
are
prone
to
remain,”
he
argues.
“That
is
especially
so
as
this
Court’s
gag
order
unconstitutionally
restricts
President
Trump’s
ability
to
utilize
First
Amendment-protected
political
speech
to
publicly
comment
on
these
proceedings,
including
the
SA
Appendix.”
(Okay,
that’s
a
bit
inappropriate.
Old
habits
die
hard!)
This
is
transparent
bullshit,
of
course.
Obviously
he
just
wants
to
keep
this
document
out
of
the
public
before
the
election.
And
once
again
he
approvingly
quotes
Elie
Honig
and
Jack
Goldsmith
to
buttress
his
point,
even
though
their
arguments
are
based
solely
on
proximity
to
the
election,
not
poisoning
the
jury
pool.
The
court
has
already
rejected
the
“Defendant’s
concern
with
the
political
consequences
of
these
proceedings”
and
warned
him
that
“Future
filings
should
be
directed
to
the
issues
before
the
court.”
Trump’s
lawyers
seem
to
think
that
perhaps
they
will
get
a
different
result
if
they
dial
back
the
invective
a
scosh
and
repeat
their
argument
in
a
slightly
different
way.
Although
the
Court
has
decided,
over
President
Trump’s
objections,
that
the
“‘political
consequences
of
these
proceedings’
is
not
a
cognizable
legal
prejudice,”
the
Court
has
not
addressed
the
public’s
interest
in
ensuring
that
this
case
does
not
unduly
interfere,
or
appear
to
interfere,
with
the
ongoing
election.
A
temporary
stay
would
serve
that
interest
by
ensuring
that
the
redacted
SA
Appendix
is
accompanied
by
President
Trump’s
rebuttal,
reducing
(but
again
not
eliminating)
this
case’s
improper
impact
on
the
election,
as
well
as
the
potential
for
voter
confusion.
Additionally,
a
stay
would
promote
public
confidence
in
the
integrity
of
these
proceedings
and
a
court’s
duty
to
remain
apolitical.
That
is
one
“litigation
option,”
but
it’s
unlikely
to
be
an
effective
one.
Perhaps
if
Trump
had
filed
this
on
Monday
and
gotten
an
immediate
denial,
he’d
have
had
to
time
for
a
Hail
Mary
pass
to
SCOTUS.
As
it
stands,
the
stay
expires
today
and
Judge
Chutkan
is
almost
certain
to
deny
the
request
and
order
the
immediate
unsealing
of
the
appendix
in
the
same
order.
The
filing
notes
that
“Counsel
for
President
Trump
requested
a
position
from
the
Special
Counsel
by
email
on
October
16,
2024,
and
again
on
October
17,
2024.
As
of
the
time
of
this
filing,
the
Special
Counsel
has
not
responded.”
Presumably
because
Jack
Smith
and
his
team
were
laughing
so
hard
they
couldn’t
type
anything
out
before
this
hit
the
docket
this
morning
at
9am.
US
v.
Trump [Docket
via
Court
Listener]
Liz
Dye lives
in
Baltimore
where
she
produces
the
Law
and
Chaos substack and podcast.