In a new court filing in the 1/6 criminal case, Special Counsel Jack Smith has more than a decade of statements made by Donald Trump opposing the peaceful transfer of power.
The Special Counsel wrote:
As set forth in the indictment, the defendant’s criminal conspiracies relied on his
knowingly false claims of election fraud. See, e.g., ECF No. 1 at ¶ 2, 4. At trial, the Government
will introduce a number of public statements by the defendant in advance of the charged
conspiracies, claiming that there would be fraud in the 2020 presidential election. These
statements sowed mistrust in the results of the presidential election and laid the foundation for the
defendant’s criminal efforts.
In addition to this intrinsic evidence of false statements about the 2020 election, the Government will offer evidence reflecting the defendant’s historical record of making such claims. For example, as early as November 2012, the defendant issued a public tweet making baseless claims that voting machines had switched votes from then-candidate Romney to then-candidate Obama. During the 2016 presidential campaign, the defendant claimed repeatedly, with no basis, that there was widespread voter fraud—including through public statements and tweets (for instance, on October 17, 2016, tweeting, “Of course there is large scale fraud happening on and before election day. Why do Republican leaders deny what is going on? So naive!”).
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, as well as his motive, intent, and plan to obstruct the certification of the 2020 election results and illegitimately retain power.
It would be ironic if Trump’s Twitter account, which he loved and adored to such a degree that he referred to it as his press office, helped to get him convicted.
Donald Trump is still presenting no legal defense for his plot to overthrow the government beyond court debunked claims of presidential immunity and political arguments.
Jack Smith and his team are loading up to show that it always was Trump’s intent to retain power through any method necessary. The Special Counsel will argue to a jury that Donald Trump has a long history of public statements that center around delegitimizing elections, and that those statements laid the groundwork for his attempted coup.
It starting to look Trump’s only chance to avoid conviction is to win the 2024 presidential election.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
