(RepublicanNews.org) – Former President Donald Trump is striking back against U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith, who’s being accused by the former president and his legal team of violating an order to pause all activity related to Trump’s prosecution on charges of election interference.
The Trump legal team is accusing the special counsel and prosecutors working on the case of disregarding an order from U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to pause all activity in Trump’s federal lawsuit. Chutkan issued the order in December to pause any activity moving the case toward a trial or imposing “burdens of litigation” on the former president while he’s in the process of appealing a previous decision striking down Trump’s claims of immunity from charges.
According to the court filing, Trump’s team claims Smith is violating the order by filing a legal motion during the pause and handing over additional evidence to the defense. They accused federal prosecutors of including “partisan” allegations and rhetoric in the filing while knowing Trump and his team wouldn’t respond due to the pause. Smith’s filing seeks to stop Trump from arguing in the upcoming trial that the lawsuit against him is politically motivated.
Trump maintains he is innocent of the charges that he encouraged rioters on Jan. 6 to try and stop the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.
The trial is scheduled to kick off in March, but Trump’s attorneys and the special counsel have been battling over the case’s timing, with Smith trying to speed the process along for an earlier trial. Meanwhile, Trump was able to get Chutkan to pause the proceedings by arguing in an appellate court that, as a former president, he’s immune from the charges against him. The case won’t resume until that appeal is resolved.
Federal prosecutors claim they are continuing to follow the deadlines previously set to “help ensure” the trial will proceed “promptly” if the former president’s appeal gets rejected. The D.C. appellate court heard Trump’s arguments on Tuesday, January 9th. Although no decision was reached, the judge expressed skepticism of the former president’s claims.
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