In the course of trial proceedings on Wednesday stemming from her fraud case against the Trumps, New York state Attorney General Letitia James’ team revealed a document that some said could incriminate former President Donald Trump for other prosecutors including Special Counsel Jack Smith at the federal level and Fani Willis in Georgia. The specific portion of trial where these attention-grabbing materials emerged was questioning of Donald Trump Jr.
Meanwhile, both Smith and Willis have brought criminal cases accusing Trump of attempted election interference, and in court, James’ team brought up “a document showing that former President Trump restored himself as trustee on Jan. 15, 2021,” as summarized by journalist Adam Klasfeld. The financial trust in question dealt with various Trump assets. The connection here is that the doc showing the former president moving back into a trustee position on that date could indicate knowledge on Trump’s part that he lost the 2020 presidential race and, in reality, was heading back to private life.
Knowledge on Trump’s part of such a progression could help with showing criminal intent, as needed for prosecutors to prove their case, in his attempts across those weeks to undercut the then-recent election’s results. “This document could be hugely important to Jack Smith and Fani Willis: it would show that Trump knew, at least as of 1/15/21, that he had not won the election and was returning to his private life & business,” former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said on Wednesday.
Trump is now back under a gag order in that federal case after the presiding judge, Tanya Chutkan, rejected his request for leaving it on hold while he pursued appeals. The order generally blocks public attacks on Smith, Smith’s staff, and witnesses — all of which are categories the former president has repeatedly targeted. In her recent ruling, Chutkan called out recent comments from Trump towards Mark Meadows, a former official on his presidential team who reports suggested had provided information to prosecutors, as something that would have likely violated the order had it been active.
