Special counsel Jack Smith’s team shed light on Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election 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 165-page filing said Trump lied to state election officials, manufactured fraudulent electoral votes and tried to enlist Vice President Mike Pence to obstruct Congress’ certification of the results. Prosecutors said Trump did all that despite acknowledging privately that claims of fraud were not true.
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The filing also rebutted an attempt to claim Trump can’t be charged in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity.
“Although the defendant was the incumbent President during the charged conspiracies, his scheme was fundamentally a private one,” prosecutors wrote. “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 regarding Trump’s attempts to pressure Vice President Pence to present alternate electors during the certification process. The justices said that could be subject to a rebuttal, which Smith provided.
“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,” the filing stated.
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.
