By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-10-02 20:49:41 | Updated at 2024-10-04 13:20:07
1 day ago
Donald Trump “resorted to crimes” after losing the 2020 election, federal prosecutors said in a court filing unsealed on Wednesday that argues that the former US 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 US 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 US District Judge Tanya Chutkan that the offences 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 US vice-president Mike Pence to refuse to certify the counting of the electoral votes on the afternoon of January 6, 2021.
The filing includes details of conversations between Trump and Pence, including a private lunch the two had on November 12, 2020, in which Pence “reiterated a face-saving option” for Trump, telling him, “don’t concede but recognise the process is over”, according to prosecutors.
