A federal judge On Wednesday, a key filing from special counsel Jack Smith’s updated election interference case against former President Donald Trump was unsealed.
US District Judge for the District of Columbia Tanya Chutkan Smith’s 165-page filing, in which Smith argues that Trump is not immune from prosecution for his alleged criminal scheme to overturn the 2020 election results. Smith submitted the document following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that the president has immunity from prosecution for official acts.
“Although defendant was the sitting President at the time of the charged conspiracies, his planning was fundamentally personal,” Smith wrote. “Working with a team of private co-conspirators, the defendant acted as a candidate when he, through fraud and deception, used a number of criminal methods to disrupt the government function by collecting votes. are done and counted – an act in which the defendant, such as the President, had no official role.”
The Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. United States ruled that Smith could not prosecute Trump for the president’s alleged use of the Justice Department to look into unproven claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. In response, Smith filed an updated indictment that amended the allegations against Trump to fit within the scope of the Supreme Court’s decision.
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Special Counsel Jack Smith comments on the recently unsealed indictment, including four felony counts, against former President Donald Trump at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC, on August 1, 2023, for his alleged efforts to overturn Trump’s 2020 reelection Was convicted on four felony counts. Election. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
In an unsealed filing, Smith told the court that Trump is not immune from the remaining charges against him and laid out his case for why Trump “should stand trial for his personal crimes.”
Trump has declared himself innocent All the allegations made against him by Smith.
Here are five key details from the special counsel’s new filing, partially redacted:
1. Smith’s ‘factual proposition’
In the filing filed Wednesday, Smith outlined a “factual proposition” alleging that Trump “resorted to crimes to try to remain in office” after losing the 2020 presidential election.
Smith wrote, “Along with private co-conspirators, the defendant began a series of increasingly desperate schemes to overturn the legitimate election results in the seven states he lost – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New York, Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.”
“Their efforts included lying to state officials to induce them to ignore the true vote count; manufacturing fraudulent electoral votes in targeted states; attempting to impeach the President of the Senate to obstruct Congress.” His role included attempting to impersonate Vice President Michael R. Pence using fraudulent electoral votes; and when all else failed, an angry mob of supporters on January 6, 2021. Directed at the United States Capitol to obstruct the authentication of Congress.”
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Smith claims that “the entire framework of these efforts was a fraud,” alleging Trump and co-conspirators Engaged in a conspiracy to interfere with the function of the federal government by which the nation collects and counts election results, as set forth in the Constitution and the Electoral Count Act (ECA); Conspiracy to obstruct the official proceedings in which Congress certifies the lawful results of a presidential election; And there is a conspiracy against the right of millions of Americans to vote and have their votes counted.”
Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump, speaks to attendees during a campaign rally at the Prairie du Chien Area Arts Center on September 28, 2024 in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
2. Smith claims Trump’s personal lawyer called POTUS election fraud claims ‘bulls—‘
Smith claims that several people close to Trump told the former president that his claims of election fraud were “stupid s—“.
According to Smith, in one conversation, an unnamed Trump attorney told Trump that the campaign was “investigating his fraud claims and had even hired outside experts to do so, but he received no support for them.” found.”
“He told the defendants that if the campaign took these claims to court, they would be slaughtered because all claims are ‘bulls—‘,” the filing states. Smith claims an attorney Discussed the investigation and “debunkings” with Trump. On all major claims.”
For example, the lawyer reportedly told Trump that Georgia audit Claims that votes were altered were rejected.
This Jan. 6, 2021 photo shows President Donald Trump supporters gathering at the Capitol as Congress prepares to confirm President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
Smith also claims that a senior campaign adviser who spoke with Trump on a “daily basis” and “informed him on multiple occasions that various fraud claims were false” complained that Trump lost his election lawsuit. Because his lawyers could not support the false claims. About elections.
The campaign consultant reportedly wrote, “When our research and campaign legal team cannot support any of the claims made by our elite strike force legal team, you can see why we are 0-32 in our cases “
“I’ll obviously try to help on all fronts, but it’s hard to get a hold of any of this when it’s all just conspiracy—driven by motherhood.”
3. New details on Trump’s conversation with Vice President Mike Pence
The filing details several alleged conversations between Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence in the days after the election.
Smith detailed a call between Pence and Trump on November 7, 2020, in which Pence reportedly tried to encourage “Trump as a friend” and reminded him that he “led a dying political party.” And gave it a new lease of life.”
Smith also detailed a private lunch between Trump and Pence on November 12, 2020, when Pence reportedly gave Trump a “face-saving option.” That option, according to the filing, was “not to assume, but to assume, that the process has ended.”
In between another private lunch Trump and Pence On November 16, 2020, Pence reportedly tried to encourage Trump to accept the election results and run for re-election in 2024. Trump is alleged to have responded, “I don’t know, 2024 is too far away.”
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Then-President Trump, left, looks on after a news conference with then-Vice President Mike Pence in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on Feb. 26, 2020, in Washington, DC. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
At another private lunch on December 21, Pence reportedly encouraged Trump “not to view the election as ‘a loss – just as an intermission.'” Later that day in the Oval Office, Trump reportedly asked Pence for advice on what he should do. According to Smith, Pence said, “After exhausting every legal process in the courts and in Congress, if we still fail, Trump must capitulate.”
Additionally, Smith revealed that Trump reportedly showed little regard for Pence’s safety during the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2023, after it became clear that Pence was attempting to stop the certification of the election. Will not support their efforts.
Smith alleges that an unnamed aide to Trump, “received a phone call alerting him that Pence had been moved to a secure location… rushed to the dining room to inform the defendant (Trump), this “In the hopes that the defendants will take action to ensure Pence’s safety.”
Smith writes that instead, after the aide delivered the news, Trump “looked at her and simply said, ‘So what?'”
4. White House staffer reportedly heard Trump say, ‘It doesn’t matter whether you win or lose.’
Smith alleges that Trump at times showed complete disregard for those who told him that his claims of voter fraud were false, including Republican election officials in states where Trump claimed the election was stolen. Had gone.
“For example, election officials issued press releases and other public statements to combat the misinformation being spread by the defendant and his associates,” Smith wrote. “Not long after the defendant began spreading false fraud claims, (REDACTED), a White House staffer traveling with the defendant overheard him telling family members that ‘It doesn’t matter if you Win or lose the election, you will still have to fight like hell.”
Smith emphasizes that Trump and his legal team “repeatedly changed the numbers in their baseless fraud allegations day after day,” and even “made up figures out of whole cloth.”
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In this Jan. 6, 2021 photo, protesters loyal to then-President Trump stormed the Capitol in Washington, DC. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
The special counsel claimed that Trump “was aware that there was no evidence of widespread election fraud in Arizona within a week of the election” and claimed that Trump also “had advance knowledge that the election in Georgia “His claims of fraud were false.”
As long as Trump kept his word Rally on 6th JanuaryAfter Pence refused to stop the certification of the election, Smith said the former president knew his “last hope” to overturn the results was “the big and angry crowd standing in front of him.”
“So for more than an hour, the defendant gave speeches designed to rile up his supporters and inspire them to march to the Capitol. The defendant told the crowd the same lies he had been telling for months – privately and publicly. “, including officials from the targeted states—and he knew that was not true.”
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5. Smith presented the case against presidential immunity
Smith argues that based on a “factual analysis” of Trump’s conduct, the court should determine that the former president was not acting in his official capacity when challenging the election results and therefore is not immune from prosecution.
“No allegation or evidence is protected by presidential immunity,” Smith wrote. He also said Trump’s “plan was personal.”
Smith claimed, “He extensively used private actors and his campaign infrastructure to attempt to overturn the election results and acted in his private capacity as a candidate for office.” “To the limited extent that the indictment imposed and the evidence presented reflect official conduct, however, the Government may rebut the presumption of immunity because relying on that conduct in this prosecution would risk intruding upon the authority or functions of the executive branch.” Will not done. .”
Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman and Fox News’ Jake Gibson contributed to this report.
