Following JD Vance’s commanding performance in the Vice Presidential debate, special counsel Jack Smith—described by some as a tool of the Biden Department of Justice—has launched an attempt to disrupt Donald Trump’s White House bid.
This aggressive move comes just weeks before Election Day, seemingly breaking the traditional DOJ guideline against actions that might influence an election within 30 days prior to voting.
Smith’s newly unsealed court document claims that Donald Trump “resorted to crimes” and argues against his entitlement to immunity from prosecution. The document, filed by Smith’s team, follows a Supreme Court opinion that broadly granted immunity to former presidents and narrowed the scope of prosecution.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan of the District of Columbia unsealed Smith’s extensive filing, which lays out the evidence and reasoning Smith intends to use in an eventual trial against Trump.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges levied against him by Smith. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court ruled that presidents are immune from prosecution for actions taken in an official capacity.
In light of the Supreme Court ruling, Smith had to issue a revised indictment against Trump. The new indictment maintains the previous charges but narrows and reframes them to fit within the framework established by the court’s ruling on presidential immunity.
The unsealed document provides a detailed “factual proffer,” in which Smith alleges Trump “resorted to crimes to try to stay in office” following his defeat in the 2020 election. Smith contends that Trump and his associates launched “increasingly desperate” plans to overturn legitimate election outcomes in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
The lengthy 165-page filing states that these efforts were centered around deception, alleging that Trump and co-conspirators worked to interfere with the Constitutionally established processes by which election results are collected and counted, as outlined by the Electoral Count Act (ECA). The allegations include conspiracies to obstruct Congress from certifying the results of the presidential election, as well as conspiring against the rights of Americans to vote and have those votes counted.
Reacting to the unsealed filing, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung denounced the release, calling it a “falsehood-filled, unconstitutional J6 brief,” and suggested that it was intended to deflect attention from a poor debate showing by Tim Walz. Cheung labeled it another effort by the “Harris-Biden regime” to undermine democracy and influence the upcoming election.
“Jack Smith and the radical Democrats in Washington are determined to weaponize the Justice Department as a way to hold onto power,” Cheung stated. “President Trump is dominating, and the deep state Democrats are in a panic.”
He added, “This case is nothing more than a partisan, unconstitutional witch hunt that should be entirely dismissed, just like all the other baseless hoaxes launched by the Democrats.”
