Getty ImagesDonald Trump “resorted to criminality” in his attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss, prosecutors allege in a new court filing that argues the former president is not immune from prosecution.
Special Counsel Jack Smith, the prosecutor appointed to lead the election interference case against Trump, filed the unsealed documents on Wednesday.
It challenges Trump’s claim that he is protected by a landmark Supreme Court ruling in July that granted broad immunity from prosecution for official acts committed while in office. .
In the filing, prosecutors allege Trump did not at all times act in his official capacity but instead participated in a “private criminal effort” to overturn the 2020 results.
The 165-page document is an effort by prosecutors to advance the criminal case against Trump after the Supreme Court’s ruling.
“Big win for our constitution and our democracy,” Trump said at the time of the ruling, which was a big win for the Republican presidential nominee.
It caused prosecutors to narrow the scope of their charges. That’s because the ruling does not apply immunity for unofficial acts, leading prosecutors to argue that while Trump may still be in office, some of the alleged efforts to overturn the election election is related to his election campaign and his life as an ordinary citizen.
The court should “find that the defendant must stand trial for his private crimes like any other citizen,” Smith wrote in the new filing.
The case has been frequently delayed since the Justice Department filed charges more than a year ago accusing Mr. Trump, who denies wrongdoing, of seeking to illegally block the certification of President Joe’s victory. Biden in January 2021.
Trump’s lawyers fought to keep the latest filing private, and campaign spokesman Steven Cheung called it a “falsehood” and “unconstitutional.”
In a post on his Truth Social platform Wednesday, Trump called it a “hit job” and said it “shouldn’t have been announced right before the election.”
He accused prosecutors of “serious” misconduct.
The filing presents new evidence and offers the clearest view yet on how prosecutors will seek to present their case against Trump at trial.
It alleges that he always planned to declare victory regardless of the outcome, and had laid the groundwork for this long before election day. It also accused him of intentionally spreading false claims about the vote that he himself called “crazy.”
Mr. Smith also provided some new details about the Trump campaign’s alleged role in sowing chaos in battleground states, where large numbers of mail-in ballots are being counted in 2020 because of the pandemic. Covid-19 epidemic.
In the Democratic stronghold of Detroit, Michigan, when a large number of votes appeared to favor Biden, a Trump campaign operative reportedly told his colleagues to “find a reason ” suggesting there was something wrong with the ballots to give him “options to vote on”. sue in court”.
The filing also alleges Trump and his allies, including attorney Rudy Giuliani, sought to “take advantage of the violence and chaos at the Capitol” on January 6, 2021, to delay election certification. They allegedly did this by calling senators and leaving voicemails asking them to object to state voters.
Trump on Wednesday said the case would end with his “total victory.” A trial has not yet been set, but any potential date would almost certainly take place after the November 5 election.
