January 6: unprecedented allegations against Trump

“So what?” » According to a 165-page document made public this Wednesday by Washington federal judge Tanya Chutkan, Donald Trump asked this question to one of his collaborators who had just informed him that Mike Pence had been evacuated from the Capitol after the publication of his famous tweet denouncing the refusal of his vice-president to block the certification of the results of the 2020 presidential election by Congress, on January 6, 2021. The advisor hoped that Trump, who was then following the assault on the Capitol by his supporters, take steps to ensure Pence’s safety. Wasted effort.

The case is the one that special prosecutor Jack Smith presented last week to Judge Chutkan to convince her that Trump’s trial for post-election conspiracy should proceed despite the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity. According to Smith, the tweet sent by Trump did not fall into the category of official acts meriting presidential immunity. Rather, the inflammatory message was part of electoral activities related to Trump’s private role as a presidential candidate.

Trump’s reaction to his adviser’s briefing on Pence is part of testimony before the Washington grand jury that investigated the post-election plot. Smith’s document reveals another unprecedented reaction from the former president, according to a report from the New York Times. During a private lunch in mid-November 2020, Pence encouraged Trump to accept defeat and attempt to return to the White House in 2024.

“I don’t know, 2024 is so far away,” Trump replied.

A White House legal advisor had already warned the 45th president that his allegations of electoral fraud had no chance of success in court. Trump’s response, according to other grand jury testimony: “The details don’t matter. »

Smith’s document presents the allegations against Trump as a set of private actions that are not protected by presidential immunity as outlined in the controversial Supreme Court ruling.

“The defendant asserts that he is immune from prosecution for his criminal plan to overturn the 2020 presidential election because, in his view, it was official conduct,” Smith and his team of prosecutors. “That’s not the case. Although the defendant was the sitting president during the alleged conspiracies, his plan was fundamentally private. »

It will be up to Judge Chutkan to accept the special prosecutor’s reasoning or reject it in part or in whole. If elected in November, Trump could end his reflection, if it is not completed, by asking his attorney general to close the case. In the meantime, the judge could make public other parts of the document presented by the special prosecutor. This document was accompanied by a lengthy sealed annex containing interviews with the FBI, affidavits relating to the search warrants, and grand jury testimony.

On Truth Social, Trump said Smith’s record was “riddled with lies” and “unconstitutional.” He also called it again an attempt to interfere in the November election.

(Photo Getty Images)