WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A team of federal prosecutors led by special counsel Jack Smith said in a document released on Wednesday that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is responsible for the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
In a filing responding to Trump's attempt to dismiss the lawsuit, Smith's team said it was “wrong” for Trump's team to file the complaint. The wave of accusations against Trump returned in August It does not show that Trump is responsible for the events of January 6th.
Trump, Smith's team said, “intentionally blocked others” from certifying President Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election, repeating his false claims of voter fraud and giving “false hope” to his supporters who believed that then-Vice President Mike Pence could overturn the election and. by “pressuring” Pence and lawmakers to accept fraudulent credentials as part of a fake election scheme.
“These allegations directly link the defendant's actions on January 6 to his attempts to maliciously obstruct his certification process,” Smith's team wrote.
“Contrary to Defendant’s claim…that he bears no factual or legal responsibility for the “January 6 incident,” the superseding complaint expressly alleges that Defendant intentionally obstructed and attempted to obstruct the process by subpoenaing his supporters. Washington, D.C., and then order a march to the Capitol to pressure the Vice President and lawmakers to reject their valid credentials and instead rely on fraudulent election credentials,” Smith’s team wrote.
Prior to that, Trump lawyer Dr. Defend argued that the complaint “extends generally applicable laws beyond their limit based on false claims that President Trump was somehow responsible for the events at the Capitol on January 6.” 2021” and that “President Trump sought and took steps to blame for events that he did not control.” .”
The complaint alleges that Trump exploited the violence and chaos at the Capitol, and Smith's team said in a recent filing that Trump — when he learned that Pence had to be taken to a secure location shortly after Trump attacked him on Twitter — responded by saying : “So what?”
Lawyers for Smith and Trump continue to exchange legal documents in the case with less than three weeks until Election Day, when Trump hopes to return to power after his 2020 defeat. He has denied any wrongdoing in the case and said the allegation was politically fueled .
The latest request comes after the Supreme Court Ruling on Presidential Immunity Part of Smith's case against Trump was lost. The indictment returned by a federal grand jury alleges that Trump knowingly spread lies about the 2020 election that were “Unsupported, objectively irrational and constantly changing” in an attempt to avoid his defeat and remain in power.
Smith's team said that Trump's impeachment request “does not identify any defect in the substitute allegations that would justify their rejection” and that their motion “completely ignores the allegations in the case against him that he and his co-conspirators attempted to fabricate and use false evidence – Fraudulent Electoral Certificates – as a way of obstructing the certification process.”
Smith's team said in a statement earlier this month that Trump “resorted to the crime” of remaining in office after his defeat and that he was fundamentally acting as a private candidate for office, not as president, when he engaged in much of the conduct that is at the heart of their case.
Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the case, granted Trump's team an extension that removed the filing deadline after the election. Trump's impeachment motion based on the president's immunity claim is scheduled for November 7, while the administration's response is due November 21.
