Ray Bogan

Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team shed new light on Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election results in a newly unsealed court filing. Prosecutors said Trump became “increasingly desperate” as he worked to overturn the results in seven states – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. 

The Special Counsel’s filing said Trump lied to state election officials, manufactured fraudulent votes, and tried to enlist Vice President Pence to obstruct Congress’ certification of the results.  In the 165 page filing, prosecutors said Trump did all that despite acknowledging privately that claims of fraud were “crazy”.

The filing also rebutted an attempt to claim Trump can’t be charged in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity. 

Prosecutors wrote – 

“Although the defendant was the incumbent President during the charged conspiracies, his scheme was fundamentally a private one. 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.”

Smith also addressed the Supreme Court’s ruling of presumed immunity for Trump’s attempts to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to present alternate electors during the certification process. The justices said that could be subject to a rebuttal, which Smith provided. 

He wrote – “Because the Executive Branch has no role in the certification proceeding—and indeed, the President was purposely excluded from it by design—prosecuting the defendant for his corrupt efforts regarding Pence poses no danger to the Executive Branch’s authority or functioning.” 

Now Judge Tanya Chutkan will decide whether she agrees with Smith’s argument regarding immunity. If she rules against Trump, he will be sure to appeal. If Trump wins the election just over a month away, this case will never go to trial. 

I’m Ray Bogan for Straight Arrow News, for more reporting download the SAN app.