On Wednesday, federal judge Tanya Chutkan publicly revealed new evidence presented by special prosecutor Jack Smith’s team. The prosecution alleges that Trump’s conspiratorial actions on January 6th at the Capitol arose from his status as a candidate and should not be shielded by immunity.
In July of this year, the U.S. Supreme Court made a ruling on presidential immunity, affirming that the president’s official acts are covered by criminal immunity. It remains for the lower court to determine whether Trump’s actions in this case constitute official duties. In response to the Supreme Court’s decision, Smith filed an amended indictment at the end of August and recently submitted new evidence.
Smith’s motion aims to provide a “comprehensive explanation of the defendant’s criminal behavior” and asks the court to “determine that the defendant must be held accountable for their private wrongdoing just like any other citizen.”
On Wednesday, the court made public redacted portions of the documents submitted by the prosecutors, indicating that the judge is considering the prosecution’s arguments regarding whether the case can proceed under the Supreme Court’s ruling.
In the documents, Smith stated: “The defendant (Trump) claims immunity for the criminal plan to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, asserting that it was part of official duties. However, the facts show otherwise. While the defendant was still president when the alleged conspiracy occurred, the nature of the plan is fundamentally a private act.”
Smith added, “The defendant conspired with a private team to utilize various criminal means in their capacity as a candidate to disrupt the government functions of collecting and counting votes through fraud and deception. The defendant, as president, had no official role in these functions.”
Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. In a post on his social media platform “Truth Social,” Trump called the documents “all fake” and a violation of the Constitution.
Trump stated that the documents were unsealed the day after the vice presidential debate to divert media attention from the “disastrous debate performance of (Democratic vice presidential candidate) Walz.”
On Wednesday, during an interview with NewsNation in Houston, Texas, Trump referred to the unsealing of the documents as the “weaponization of government.”
At a private fundraising event, Trump criticized the timing of the document release as “pure election interference” by being made public “30 days before the election,” intending to boost his approval ratings.
Most of the content in the documents outlines an alleged plan to organize “fraudulent electors” (referred to by Republicans as “alternative electors”) and pressure then-Vice President Pence to reject certifications of electoral votes from states in his role as Senate President.
The prosecution claimed that Trump and his conspirators “lied to Pence, telling him there was widespread election fraud, while concealing their elaborate scheme to fabricate a fake list of electors and using that list in an attempt to disrupt the congressional certification.”
The documents state that Trump “lit the fuse of a powder keg and deliberately ignited it on January 6th.”
These documents provide details of communication between Trump, Pence, and his campaign staff.
Pence has repeatedly denied the authority to comply with Trump’s plan. According to the documents, Trump at one point told Pence that people would hate him for being “lacking in courage,” thinking he was “stupid,” and that the former vice president was “too honest.”
The prosecution in the documents accuses Trump of repeatedly uttering falsehoods, including fabricating information about non-citizen voting.
One campaign advisor told Trump that his claim of widespread deceased individuals voting in Georgia was false, with a campaign lawyer confirming that the number was “about 12 people, unlikely to impact the vote tally.”
The documents also describe Trump’s interactions with crucial swing state election officials in Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, among others, illustrating Trump’s attempts to pressure them to overturn the election results.
Regarding these documents, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung stated that the U.S. government and the Democratic Party are weaponizing the Justice Department, calling the entire case a politically motivated persecution. Cheung viewed the court’s decision to make these documents public the day after the vice presidential debate as an attempt to interfere in democratic elections.