Trump scolded by judge for 'fishing expedition' that was meant to 'tarnish' case: expert

Trump cast lines into the subpoena sea and reeled in a judge's rebuke.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan who is presiding over the 45th president's election interference trial set to begin March 4, ruled against his try to subpoena "missing" records from the House of Representatives' Jan. 6 committee and dubbed it a "fishing expedition."

"The broad scope of the records that Defendant seeks, and his vague description of their potential relevance, resemble less 'a good faith effort to obtain identified evidence' than they do 'a general ‘fishing expedition,'" wrote Chutkan.

Trump's legal team attempted to subpoena a U.S. archivist, the clerk of the House of Representatives, the Committee on House Administration, Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., and Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and others, claiming a "significant overlap between the Select Committee’s investigation and this case" and that there was a strong chance these materials would expose trial witness discussions.

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MSNBC's Lisa Rubin, a former litigator, weighed in the reasoning behind Chutkan's shutdown of Trump's attempt.

"Specifically, she observed that Trump already had all witness transcripts from the committee’s investigation — and that his bid for the other categories was so thinly supported, if not speculative, as to make his requests more akin to a 'fishing expedition' than a good-faith effort to obtain admissible evidence."

Trump argued for these materials based on unfounded theories, according to the expert.

One of them related to former Vice President Mike Pence's classified records investigation and Trump's suspicion that Pence "told federal investigators lies about their intersections leading up to and on Jan. 6."

He tried to cite a Washington Post article to hold both Attorney General Merrick Garland and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco responsible for involving themselves in a Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy investigation that later led to the charge (and conviction) of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes.

Trump also asked for evidence related to the the SolarWinds "SUNBURST" cyber attack that went public just before the 2020 election, citing his belief that the attack played a part in its outcome.

Rubin suspects the effort is a distraction meant to throw a wrench in the wheels of justice.

She writes: "There are numerous other examples of Trump’s illogic and speculation as drivers of his search for something — anything — to tarnish government witnesses’ credibility and to support his meritless claim that the case against him is itself election interference."

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