Politics
Prosecutors: Trump ‘Resorted to Crimes’ After Losing 2020 Election
(WASHINGTON) — Donald Trump “resorted to crimes” after losing the 2020 election, federal prosecutors said in a court filing unsealed Wednesday that argues that the former president disregarded the advice of his vice president and other aides and is not entitled to immunity from prosecution over his failed bid to remain in power.
The filing was submitted by special counsel Jack Smith's team following a Supreme Court opinion that conferred broad immunity on former presidents for official acts they take in office, narrowing the scope of the prosecution charging Trump with conspiring to overturn the results of the election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
The purpose of the brief is to convince U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan that the offenses charged in the indictment are private, rather than official, acts and can therefore remain part of the indictment as the case moves forward.
“Although the defendant was the incumbent President during the charged conspiracies, his scheme was fundamentally a private one,” Smith’s team said, adding, “When the defendant lost the 2020 presidential election, he resorted to crimes to try to stay in office."
Those include efforts to persuade former Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to certify the counting of the electoral votes on the afternoon of Jan. 6, 2021.
The filing includes details of conversations between Trump and Pence, including a private lunch the two had on Nov. 12, 2020, in which Pence “reiterated a face-saving option” for Trump, telling him, “don’t concede but recognize the process is over,” according to prosecutors.
In another private lunch days later, Pence urged Trump to accept the results of the election and run again in 2024.
“I don’t know, 2024 is so far off,” Trump told him, according to the filing.
But Trump “disregarded” Pence “in the same way he disregarded dozens of court decisions that unanimously rejected his and his allies’ legal claims, and that he disregarded officials in the targeted states — including those in his own party — who stated publicly that he had lost and that his specific fraud allegations were false,” prosecutors wrote.
Trump’s “steady stream of disinformation” in the weeks after the election culminated in his speech at the Ellipse on the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, in which Trump “used these lies to iNFLame and motivate the large and angry crowd of his supporters to march to the Capitol and disrupt the certification proceeding,” prosecutors wrote.
-
Politics1h ago
Israeli actions have the cover of ‘moral hazard’ − a touch of ambiguity might give US pressure greater weight
-
Politics1h ago
Bottled up in the Black Sea: Russia is having a dreadful naval war, hindering its great power ambitions
-
Politics17h ago
Cities are clearing encampments, but this won’t solve homelessness − here’s a better way forward
-
Politics17h ago
Philly block parties can lead to small boosts in voter turnout, new research suggests
-
Politics23h ago
Iran’s strikes on Israel are the latest sign that the conflict in the Middle East is spiraling, presenting rising global security threats
-
Politics23h ago
Russia’s new ideological battlefield: The militarization of young minds
-
Politics1d ago
Why the Vance-Walz Debate Is Primed to Be Messy
-
Politics1d ago
The Internet Can’t Get Over This Moment From Donald Trump’s Speech