U.S. prosecutors said Donald Trump was acting outside the scope of his duties as president when he pressured state officials and then-U.S. vice-president Mike Pence to try to overturn his 2020 election defeat, in a court filing made public on Wednesday.
The 165-page filing is likely the last opportunity for prosecutors to detail their case against Trump before the Nov. 5 election given there will not be a trial before Trump faces Democratic U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris at the polls.
The filing is meant to keep the federal criminal election subversion case against the Republican presidential candidate moving forward following a July U.S. Supreme Court ruling that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution for their official actions in office.
Prosecutors working with Special Counsel Jack Smith laid out a sweeping account of Trump’s conduct following the 2020 U.S. election, much of which has already been made public through news reports, findings from the House committee that investigated the Capitol riot or the indictment obtained by Smith in the case.
It includes an allegation that a White House staffer heard Trump tell family members that “it doesn’t matter if you won or lost the election. You still have to fight like hell.”
Trump has pleaded not guilty to four criminal charges accusing him of a conspiracy to obstruct the congressional certification of the election, defraud the U.S. out of accurate results and interfere with Americans’ voting rights.
Interactions with Pence
Much of the filing focuses on Trump’s dealings with then-vice-president and running mate Mike Pence, whom Trump tried to pressure into using his official role overseeing the U.S. Congress’s Jan. 6, 2021, certification of the election results to overturn his defeat.
Trump gave a fiery speech that day before his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, battling police, sending lawmakers running for their lives and chanting “hang Mike Pence.”
Prosecutors allege that when a White House aide told Trump, who was watching news coverage of the riot on TV, that Pence had been taken to a secure location, Trump responded “so what?”
Prosecutors said they did not plan to use that interaction at trial given the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling.
Pence was identified by name throughout the filing. The names of many other members of Trump’s administration, allies and state officials he targeted are blacked out, though details of their locations and actions make their likely identities clear.
The filing shows instances of Trump privately mocking the claims his allies were publicly making on his behalf. For instance, during a phone call with an unidentified lawyer who appears to be Sidney Powell, Trump put her on mute and called her claims “crazy,” the filing said.
Trump rejects prosecutions he faces
It also alleges that on Jan. 1, 2021, Trump warned Pence that people “are gonna hate your guts” and “think you’re stupid” if he didn’t block certification of Democratic U.S. President Joe Biden’s win.
Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung blasted the disclosures, saying, “This entire case is a partisan, Unconstitutional Witch Hunt that should be dismissed entirely, together with ALL of the remaining Democrat hoaxes.”
Trump has rejected this case and multiple other criminal prosecutions he faced this year as politically motivated attempts to prevent him from returning to power.
The filing presents a detailed narrative of the evidence prosecutors intend to use if the case goes to trial, accusing Trump of plotting even before the election to declare victory prematurely, replacing his campaign legal team when they allegedly would not support allegations of voter fraud and attempting to “manipulate” Pence into aiding his effort to hold onto power.
The filing provides details of conversations with senior officials in Trump’s administration, including Pence and White House chief-of-staff Mark Meadows, who appeared before the grand jury during the investigation.
Prosecutors submitted the court filing on Thursday, but U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan had to approve proposed redactions before it was made public.
Trump’s lawyers opposed allowing Smith to issue a sweeping court filing laying out their evidence, arguing it would be inappropriate to do so weeks before the election. They have argued the entire case should be tossed out based on the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Prosecutors included with the court filing snippets of witness interviews, grand jury testimony and evidence collected from search warrants during the investigation. Chutkan is reviewing that material and may make public redacted versions of those documents, though Trump’s lawyers have until Oct. 10 to raise objections to that.
If Trump wins the election, he is likely to direct the U.S. Justice Department to drop the charges.
Prosecutors also highlighted a Twitter post that Trump sent during the Capitol riot saying Pence “didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done” during the congressional certification of the election.
Prosecutors said that post “was not a message sent to address a matter of public concern and ease unrest; it was the message of an angry candidate upon the realization that he would lose power.”
