Special counsel Jack Smith is gearing up to present evidence in former President Donald Trump‘s criminal election subversion trial that his support of defendants from the Jan. 6 Capitol riot shows he intended to spark violence that day.
Trump’s public comments suggesting his intent to pardon some defendants charged for their actions during the riot, as well as his musical collaboration with imprisoned defendants who sang a cover of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” are just a few examples Smith cited in his latest filing seeking to create a dubious link between Trump and the violence at the Capitol in early 2021.
HOME ECONOMICS: THE HUMAN COST OF THE AFFORDABILITY CRISIS
“The Government plans to introduce evidence at trial showing that in the years since the January 6 attack on the Capitol, the defendant has openly and proudly supported individuals who criminally participated in obstructing the congressional certification that day, including by suggesting that he will pardon them if re-elected, even as he has conceded that he had the ability to influence their actions during the attack,” Smith’s team wrote in a nine-page court filing made public Tuesday.
The filing also revealed prosecutors’ plan to present a variety of Trump’s comments from as far back as 2012 and 2016, when he expressed doubt about the legitimacy of the U.S. election system.
“The defendant’s false claims about the 2012 and 2016 elections are admissible because they demonstrate the defendant’s common plan of falsely blaming fraud for election results he does not like,” the filing added.
For example, Smith’s team highlighted that Trump’s remarks about his plan to “keep you in suspense” about whether he would accept the 2016 election results prior to his victory that year reveals a pattern worthy of admissibility at the trial, slated to begin March 4.
A four-count federal indictment in Washington, D.C., alleges Trump schemed to defraud the federal election process, obstruct Congress’s certification of the vote on Jan. 6, 2021, and deprive eligible voters of their right to have their votes counted. It’s just one of four criminal cases brought this year against Trump, who is seeking to become the Republican presidential nominee to take on President Joe Biden in next November’s general election. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all 91 charges he faces across the four indictments.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Trump has strongly objected to efforts by Smith to connect him to the riot and will likely seek to thwart the latest effort to draw comparisons between the former president and the rioters.
Smith’s filing comes just days after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found Trump can be held civilly liable for the Jan. 6 riot. Trump’s lawyers have vowed to appeal that ruling as well.
