Lawyers for former President Donald Trump are pushing back against efforts by federal prosecutors to streamline arguments and potential appeals in his 2020 election interference case, arguing they could improperly influence the 2024 race for the White House.
In papers filed Monday in federal court in Washington, defense attorneys contended that special counsel Jack Smith’s plans to file an oversized brief about whether certain Trump actions from his presidency were official or unofficial acts is improper and should not be allowed.
“Departures from these practices should never be countenanced because they risk allowing prosecutors to impact national elections, but the situation is even worse here where the Special Counsel’s Office is seeking to do so by turning criminal procedure on its head in order to file a 180-page false hit piece,” Trump’s lawyers argued.
Prosecutors from Smith’s office have said such a filing is necessary because it would address the Supreme Court’s concerns about presidential immunity issues in the case while limiting the number of possible appeals. They have asked U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the election interference case, to allow them to file a 180-page brief on the issue by Thursday.
Trump’s lawyers urged Chutkan to reject “this monstrosity.”
“The requested 180-page brief would be tantamount to a premature and improper Special Counsel report,” the attorneys argued, adding that Smith’s “streamlining” proposal is “the type of ‘highly expedited’ proceedings prior to the 2024 Presidential election that the Supreme Court has already criticized.”
They also called it an attempt by prosecutors to “improperly air their biased list of grievances.”
Smith’s office declined comment Monday night.
It’s unclear how much of the motion would be made public if Chutkan allows prosecutors to file it.
In a separate filing over the weekend, Smith’s office said that “the opening brief and its exhibits contain a substantial amount of Sensitive Material, as defined by the Protective Order,” and would require redactions.
Trump is charged with conspiracy to defraud the U.S., conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
He has pleaded not guilty and maintained that the indictment was politically motivated. The case was originally scheduled to go to trial in March, but it was stalled for several months while Trump’s lawyers went to the Supreme Court contending his actions were protected by presidential immunity.
The high court ruled in July that some of his actions were protected by immunity and sent the case back to Chutkan to determine whether some of Trump’s other actions were official or unofficial acts.
No trial date has been set.
