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Special counsel Jack Smith wrote in a court filing on Wednesday that Donald Trump shouldn’t be allowed to make “irrelevant” claims targeting President Joe Biden or say others are to blame for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot during his federal election interference trial.
The filing states: “Through public statements, filings and argument in hearings before the court, the defense has attempted to inject into this case partisan political attacks and irrelevant and prejudicial issues that have no place in a jury trial. Although the court can recognize these efforts for what they are and disregard them, the jury — if subjected to them — may not. The court should not permit the defendant to turn the courtroom into a forum in which he propagates irrelevant disinformation, and should reject his attempt to inject politics into this proceeding.”
Smith’s team argues in the filing that Trump should be barred from using “terminology such as the ‘Injustice Department,’ ‘Biden Indictment’ or similar phrases” in front of the jury. The special counsel argues that Trump has suggested “he intends to impeach the integrity of the investigation by raising wholly false claims such as the government’s nonexistent ‘coordination with the Biden administration’ and other empty allegations recycled from the selective and vindictive prosecution motion that he based on anonymous sources in newspaper articles.”
In August, Trump pleaded not guilty to the special counsel’s criminal charges attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The former president has denied all wrongdoing and denounced the charges as “a persecution of a political opponent.” Trump also responded to the filing in a statement Wednesday, claiming the prosecution is ignoring Judge Chutkan’s instructions to stay the election subversion case: “[I]t is so sad that the Supreme Court just unanimously rejected his desperate attempt to rush this Witch Hunt, that he is ignoring the law and clear instructions from District Court Judge Chutkan, who unequivocally stated that this ‘case’ is stayed and there should be no litigation.”
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