Judge denies Trump’s request to hold Jack Smith in contempt in federal 2020 election case

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal judge overseeing the 2020 election interference against Donald Trump has rejected his lawyers’ bid to hold special counsel Jack Smith’s team in contempt for actions prosecutors took after the judge put the case on hold. But the judge said Thursday that no further “substantive” court filings should be submitted without permission. The former president’s lawyers had accused prosecutors of “outrageous conduct” for turning over to the defense thousands of pages of evidence and filing a motion after the judge paused the case while Trump appeals his presidential immunity claims. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan said in her ruling Thursday that her Dec. 13 order pausing the case did not “clearly and unambiguously” prohibit those actions by Smith’s team.