The Trump legal team is furious at recent developments in the federal criminal case against the former president over his attempts after the last presidential election to stay in power despite losing to Joe Biden.
On Monday, the federal prosecution team led by Special Counsel Jack Smith issued notice it had provided for defendants its draft exhibit list for eventual trial. The bulk of proceedings at the District Court level has been placed on hold as Trump brings appeals elsewhere claiming he has wide-ranging legal protections by virtue of his time in office that should stop the case, but the special counsel’s team decided to continue producing its own filings anyway in the interest of keeping things moving for the scenario in which the case returns to presiding Judge Tanya Chutkan.
Trump’s legal team claims in a response to the draft exhibit list and other moves that this approach is “unlawful” and allegedly in violation of the ostensibly forced stop to the proceedings more comprehensively. “Both the Stay Order and binding precedent forbid these unlawful actions,” Trump’s legal team wrote Monday. “Although the prosecution may wish to rush this case to an early and unconstitutional trial in hopes of undermining President Trump’s commanding lead in the upcoming Presidential election, it must nonetheless abide by the Stay Order. As such, we will not accept or review the present production, or any additional productions, until and unless the Court lifts the Stay Order. If the prosecution continues to violate the Stay Order, we will seek appropriate relief.”
There remains absolutely no evidence indicating a political intent on the part of Smith or any of his prosecutors and, relatedly, no evidence of any involvement by the president or the president’s team in the filing or handling of this case or any of the three other criminal cases facing former President Trump. The Trump team — somewhat melodramatically — characterized prosecutors continuing to produce these filings as threatening additional “litigation burdens” on Trump. Read more here.
