‘Make them riot’ — Trump election case judge unseals special counsel motion on immunity
A federal judge on Wednesday unsealed a redacted motion by Special Counsel Jack Smith detailing evidence against former President Donald Trump in his criminal election interference case in Washington, D.C.
The 165-page document was filed by Smith as part of his argument that Trump can still be prosecuted for efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss despite a Supreme Court ruling in July that he has presumptive presidential immunity for official acts.
Judge Tanya Chutkan unsealed the filing less than five weeks before the Republican nominee Trump will face Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, in the 2024 presidential election.
If Trump wins the election, he will have the power to order the Department of Justice to dismiss the criminal case against him.
“The defendant asserts that he is immune from prosecution for his criminal scheme to overturn the 2020 presidential election because, he claims, it entailed official conduct. Not so,” Smith’s office said in the filing.
“Although the defendant was the incumbent President during the charged conspiracies, his scheme was fundamentally a private one,” the filing said. “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.” [Continue reading…]