On Feb. 6, U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon ordered the unsealing of some names and information about government officials, granting in part a motion by former President Donald Trump to unseal a partially redacted version of his motion to compel prosecutors to hand over evidence.
The case, prosecuted by special counsel Jack Smith, has been dominated by a battle for documents, extending the pre-trial motions stage and delaying what would have been a May 20 trial.
Referencing the First Amendment, Judge Cannon found that "The Special Counsel has not set forth a sufficient factual or legal basis warranting deviation from the strong presumption in favor of public access to the records at issue."
The FBI code name of a separate investigation can also be unsealed, as the special counsel didn't give a reason why it shouldn't be, the judge ordered.
The media request to intervene was thus dismissed as moot, and the judge declined to weigh in on whether the press has legal standing.
On Feb. 7, attorneys for President Trump filed a separate motion to adjourn some upcoming motions deadlines, noting that the resolution of this motion to compel-which can now be unsealed, but is still being litigated-may inform several new motions they plan to file.
The public version of the Jan. 16 motion to compel discovery accused the special counsel of covering up cooperation between executive branch departments and staff leading up to the indictment of President Trump, but most of the 22 emails referenced were redacted or not included.
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