Trump cited ‘desperate criminal plot’ to stay in power, prosecutors present new evidence

Donald Trump launched a “private criminal operation” to undermine the 2020 US election, which he lost to US President Joe Biden, prosecutors alleged in a court case unsealed on Wednesday (October 2). This may be the last desperate attempt to further state her case against the Republican presidential candidate before he faces off against the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, in the November 5 election.

In the 165-page motion, special counsel Jack Smith argues that the historic case against Donald Trump must move forward and that the ex-president should not be protected by presidential immunity.

The filing, unsealed by District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is hearing the case, said Trump should not escape prosecution because “the defendant’s scheme was, at its core, a private criminal effort.”

Smith said in the filing: “The defendant asserts that he is immune from prosecution for his criminal plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election because, he claims, it involved official conduct.”

“That is not true,” he said, adding, “Although the defendant was the sitting president during the indicted conspiracies, his plan was essentially a private one.”

The special counsel claims Trump “resorted to crime” to stay in office.

Working with “private co-conspirators,” Trump “launched a series of increasingly desperate schemes to overturn the legitimate election results in seven states he lost,” says the filing, which also unearths new evidence.

Trump allegedly lied to state officials, falsified the election and tried to get then-Vice President Mike Pence to prevent Congress from certifying Biden’s victory.

But “when all else had failed,” the Republican sent an “angry mob” of his supporters to the US capital in hopes of disrupting Biden’s certification.

The damning filing says that when a concerned White House staffer told Trump that Pence had been moved to a safe location during the Jan. 6 riot, the president said, “So what?”

Another aide prepared to testify in court also heard Trump telling a member of his family: “It doesn’t matter whether you won or lost the election. You still have to fight like hell.”

The filing also alleges that Trump fired his lawyers after the 2020 election and replaced them with Rudy Giuliani because he was willing to “knowingly spread false claims of election fraud.”

After the file was unsealed, Trump claimed in a post on Truth Social: “Democrats are arming the Justice Department against me because they know I’m WINNING.”

“This is egregious prosecutorial misconduct and should not have been made public immediately before the election,” he said.

(With contributions from agencies)