SHOWDOWN: President Trump’s Lawyers Dismantle Jack Smith’s Superseding Indictment in Joint Status Report
President Trump and Special Counsel Jack Smith presented opposing arguments for how the January 6 case will proceed in a joint status report filed late Friday night ahead of a status conference scheduled for September 5.
On Tuesday Jack Smith indicted President Trump AGAIN in DC following the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity.
As TGP reported last week, Special Counsel Jack Smith opted out of holding a ‘mini trial’ before the November election and is ‘carefully revising’ the January 6 case against Trump following the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling according to a leak to Bloomberg.
Jack Smith’s prosecutors presented evidence to a new grand jury in order to recalibrate the case after the Supreme Court ruled Trump is immune from prosecution for ‘official acts’ as president.
The grand jury indicted Trump on the same four charges that were unveiled last August: Conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.
Trump’s lawyers argued that Trump is immune from federal prosecution for alleged ‘crimes’ committed while he served as US President.
In Jack Smith’s indictment last August, prosecutors asserted that President Trump sought to use the DOJ to help him overturn the results of the 2020 election.
In the new 36-page indictment, Jack Smith’s prosecutors claim Trump’s actions were not ‘official acts’ because his rally was privately funded and “privately organized.”
Jack Smith dropped Trump’s top DOJ official Jeffrey Clark from the superseding indictment based on the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling.
In the new indictment, Federal prosecutors argued that Trump used his X/Twitter account for “personal purposes.”
In the joint status report filed Friday night, Jack Smith argued that presidential immunity set forth in Trump does not apply to the categories in the superseding indictment that federal prosecutors will introduce at trial.
“The Government proposes that it file an opening brief in which it will explain why the immunity set forth in Trump does not apply to the categories of allegations in the superseding indictment or additional unpled categories of evidence that the Government intends to introduce at trial and will proffer in its brief,” Jack Smith’s prosecutors wrote in the joint status report reviewed by The Gateway Pundit.
Trump’s lawyers came out swinging in the status report, dismantled Jack Smith’s superseding indictment and asserted that President Trump will move to dismiss the Special Counsel’s improper appointment and use of non-appropriated funds.
President Trump’s proposed pre-trial schedule:
“President Trump holds the right to challenge the new indictment, and the underlying grand jury process, as a matter of law,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.
“Here, President Trump is considering several challenges to the Superseding Indictment, each of which should be resolved in his favor as a matter of law and would obviate the need for further proceedings,” Trump’s attorneys wrote.
“We believe, and expect to demonstrate, that this case must end as a matter of law,” they said.
Trump’s lawyers argued that the former president is immune from prosecution following the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity.
Additionally, Trump’s attorneys pointed out that the Supreme Court already determined that his communications with then-Vice President Mike Pence were “presumptively immune.”
“Namely, in Trump, the Supreme Court held that President Trump is “at least presumptively immune from prosecution for” all alleged efforts “to pressure the Vice President to take particular acts in connection with his role at the certification proceeding.”” Trump’s lawyers said.
However, Jack Smith kept Trump’s communications with Mike Pence in his superseding indictment.
“In addition, while continuing to strongly maintain that many classes of conduct alleged in the Superseding Indictment are immune—including, but not limited to, Tweets and public statements about the federal 2020 Presidential election, communications with state officials about the federal election, and allegations relating to alternate slates of electors—President Trump may file a motion to dismiss focused specifically on the Special Counsel’s improper use of allegations related to Vice President Pence, along with other potential key threshold motions,” Trump’s lawyers said.
Judge Tanya Chutkan, an Obama appointee, will decide how the case proceeds after the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling.
A status conference is scheduled for September 5.
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