Special counsel Jack Smith said in a 165-page filing to a federal court Wednesday that former President Donald Trump laid the groundwork for criminal conduct ahead of the 2020 election.
The federal prosecutor charges that Mr. Trump was warned by campaign personnel that the 2020 election would be close and that mail-in ballots would likely be tabulated after Election Day — and that those would mostly favor his opponent, Joseph R. Biden.
“Privately, the defendant told advisors … that in such a scenario, he would simply declare victory before all the ballots were counted and any winner was projected. Publicly, the defendant began to plan the seeds for that false declaration,” the filing read.
The massive legal document was largely redacted of key witness names, but the people were easily identified by their job title such as “vice president’s chief of staff” and “defendant’s campaign manager.”
It’s Mr. Smith’s latest attempt to persuade a court that his charges against the former president over contesting the 2020 election will meet the Supreme Court’s threshold in a recent ruling giving presidents some immunity from criminal prosecution.
In July, the justices ruled in a 6-3 decision that presidents are immune from official conduct, and have presumed immunity for other actions but no immunity for unofficial acts.
The ruling was seen as a win for Mr. Trump because it postponed criminal proceedings against him until after Election Day.
Judge Tanya Chutkan, an Obama appointee, green-lighted the release of the redacted filing on Wednesday.
Mr. Trump’s lawyers, though, have argued that Mr. Smith’s public filing is politically motivated, as it comes just five weeks before the Nov. 5 election, in which Mr. Trump is the GOP nominee.
Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Mr. Trump’s 2024 campaign, called the filing “falsehood-ridden” and “unconstitutional,” according to The Associated Press. He said Democrats are “hell-bent on weaponizing the Justice Department in an attempt to cling to power.”
“The release of the falsehood-ridden, unconstitutional J6 brief immediately following Tim Walz’s disastrous debate performance is another obvious attempt by the Harris-Biden regime to undermine American Democracy and interfere in this election,” he said.
Mr. Smith said in the court records that Mr. Trump spread lies that illegitimate votes were cast in the 2020 election after his closest advisers told him he had lost.
“The evidence demonstrates that the defendant knew his fraud claims were false because he continued to make those claims even after his close advisors — acting not in an official capacity but in a private or campaign related capacity — told him they were not true,” the filing read.
Mr. Smith also says the former president knew he lost and reportedly told family members, “it doesn’t matter if you won or lost the election. You still have to fight like hell.”
Other allegations include that Mr. Trump and his co-conspirators had pressure campaigns going in several swing states, urging state leaders to identify fraud and delay certifying the results. The new filing also says Mr. Trump and his allies intentionally spread lies about erroneous voting machines.
When the state pressure campaigns failed, the former president then tried to use fraudulent electors and Vice President Mike Pence to upend Congress’ certification of the results on Jan. 6, 2021, Mr. Smith stated.
“Although the defendant was the incumbent president during the charged conspiracies, his scheme was fundamentally a private one,” Mr. Smith said in the filing. “Working with a team of private co-conspirators, the defendant acted as a candidate when he pursued multiple criminal means to disrupt, through fraud and deceit, the government function by which votes are collected and counted—a function in which the defendant, as president, had no official role.”
The government contends that Mr. Trump’s conversations with Mr. Pence were not related to executive functions and therefore are not subject to immunity under the Supreme Court precedent.
The prosecutors said they’ll introduce evidence that the former president and Mr. Pence often spoke about their positions as running mates.
Mr. Smith also argued that the former president had no authority over how states appoint their electors, so his pressure campaign was not an official act. He said when Mr. Trump spoke to supporters on Jan. 6 and through social media claiming there was election fraud, the speech was made by an “office-seeker, not office-holder,” so those actions are not immune, either.
To read the 165-page filing to the court, click here.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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