Trump’s 2020 election case: What Jack Smith’s new filing argues
Al Jazeera
The prosecutor has argued that Trump acted in a private capacity in trying to overturn the US election, and so should not enjoy presidential immunity granted by the Supreme Court.
Federal US prosecutors on Wednesday unveiled their most comprehensive case against former President Donald Trump, focusing on his attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.
The extensive legal brief, which details the government’s allegations, was made public by US District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the high-profile criminal charges against Trump.
“When the defendant lost the 2020 presidential election, he resorted to crimes to try to stay in office,” Jack Smith, special counsel, wrote in the 165-page brief.
“Although the defendant was the incumbent president during the charged conspiracies, his scheme was a fundamentally private one,” he added.
That Trump acted in a private capacity in attempting to overturn the election result is at the heart of the argument Smith’s filing tries to establish. In July, the Supreme Court ruled that presidents had immunity for all official acts carried out while in office.
