Donald Trump has launched a “private criminal effort” to subvert the 2020 US election and should not be protected by presidential immunity, special counsel Jack Smith said in a court filing on Wednesday.
Smith also provided new evidence of the former president’s efforts to overturn the results of the election won by Democrat Joe Biden, arguing in a 165-page motion to pursue a landmark case against Trump.
Trump, the Republican nominee for the November White House, was scheduled to be tried in March, but the case was put on hold while his lawyers argued that the former president should be granted immunity from criminal prosecution.
The Supreme Court ruled in July that a former president enjoys broad immunity from prosecution for official actions taken while in office, but can be prosecuted for unofficial actions.
In a filing sealed by District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is hearing the case, Smith said Trump should not escape prosecution because “at its core, the defendants’ scheme was a private criminal endeavor.”
“The defendant claims he is immune from prosecution for his criminal scheme to overturn the 2020 presidential election because he claims it involved official conduct,” Smith said. “Or else.”
“Although defendant was the sitting President at the time of the alleged conspiracies, his planning was essentially personal.”
Trump acted as a candidate, not in his official capacity, “and resorted to crimes to try to remain in office,” the special counsel said.
He said, “Along with private co-conspirators, the defendant launched a series of increasingly desperate schemes to overturn the legitimate election results in seven states that he lost.”
Trump’s efforts reportedly included lying to state officials, creating fraudulent electoral votes and trying to get Vice President Mike Pence to obstruct congressional certification of Biden’s victory.
“When all else failed,” Trump directed an “angry mob” of supporters at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, the special counsel said.
– ‘crazy’ –
Smith said there was abundant evidence that Trump knew his claims of election fraud were false because close advisers told him so.
The former president also dismissed some of the most far-reaching fraud claims made by his supporters as “crazy,” he said.
Smith said that Trump – frustrated by the failure of his election challenges – hired “a private attorney who was willing to falsely claim victory and spread knowingly false claims of election fraud.”
Although the filing did not name the attorney, it appears he was former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Chutkan has not set a date for the trial, but it will not take place before the Nov. 5 election between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump is accused of conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding – The session of Congress was violently attacked by Trump supporters.
The former president is also accused of trying to disenfranchise American voters with his false claims that he won the 2020 election.
Trump was convicted in New York in May on 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels.
He also faces charges related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
