US prosecutors said Donald Trump was acting outside the scope of his duties as president when he pressured state officials and then-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 Mr Trump before the November 5th election given there will not be a trial before Mr Trump faces Democratic vice-president Kamala Harris.
The filing is meant to keep the federal criminal election subversion case against the Republican presidential candidate moving forward following a July US 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 Mr Trump’s conduct following the 2020 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 Mr Smith in the case.
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It includes an allegation that a White House staffer heard Mr Trump tell family members that “it doesn’t matter if you won or lost the election. You still have to fight like hell.”
Mr Trump has pleaded not guilty to four criminal charges accusing him of a conspiracy to obstruct the congressional certification of the election, defraud the US out of accurate results and interfere with Americans’ voting rights.
Much of the filing focuses on Mr Trump’s dealings with then-vice president and running mate Mike Pence, who the former president tried to pressure into using his official role overseeing Congress’s January 6th, 2021, certification of the election results to overturn his defeat.
Mr Trump gave a fiery speech that day before his supporters stormed the Capitol, battling police, sending legislators running for their lives and chanting “hang Mike Pence.”
Prosecutors allege that when a White House aide told Mr Trump, who was watching news coverage of the riot on TV, that Mr Pence had been taken to a secure location, Mr Trump responded “so what?”
Prosecutors said they did not plan to use that interaction at trial given the Supreme Court's immunity ruling.
Mr Pence was identified by name throughout the filing. The names of many other members of Mr 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 Mr 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, Mr Trump put her on mute and called her claims “crazy,” the filing said.
It also alleges that on January 1st, 2021, Mr Trump warned Mr Pence that people “are gonna hate your guts” and “think you’re stupid” if he didn’t block certification of Democratic president Joe Biden’s win.
Trump spokesman 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.”
Mr 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. – Reuters