Prosecutors with special counsel Jack Smith’s office, previewing arguments they expect to make in court, argued that the language used in the indictment of former President Donald Trump for his challenge of the 2020 election was neither inflammatory nor prejudicial.
The new response to President Trump’s motion to strike “inflammatory” statements from the indictment was a brief one, compared with the 79-page response to his motion to dismiss the case, a length at which the prosecutors needed to obtain specific permission to file.
Jan. 6 Evidence
The indictment charges President Trump with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, one count of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, one count of obstruction of, and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and one count of conspiracy against rights. It alleges that President Trump worked with others to challenge the election through “dishonest” means and “deceit.”The indictment makes nearly 30 references to Jan. 6, mostly in listing actions President Trump took that day as part of the alleged conspiracy. It also makes several references to “violence” that day and a “riot,” alleging that President Trump “exploited” the violence but not that he was responsible for it.
Defense attorneys had argued in their motion that it was prejudicial to make references to criminal activity that day in an indictment that does not charge President Trump in relation to those actions, noting that prosecutors have made public statements in that vein as well.
In the new response, the government indicates it will seek to prove, during the trial, that President Trump was indeed responsible for those events. The response opens with a reference to Trump v. Thompson, where President Trump’s presidential immunity defense failed in a case that found him liable for the Capitol breach, arguing that “lives were lost, blood was shed,” and members of Congress were endangered.
“While the violent attack was ongoing, the defendant told rioters that they were ’very special‘ and that ’we love you.‘ In the years since, he has championed rioters as ’great patriots’ and proclaimed January 6 ‘a beautiful day,’” the new response reads.
Prosecutors argue that that day was the “culmination” of all the conspiracies he has been charged with.
“The indictment makes clear that he bears responsibility for the actions at the Capitol on that day,” it reads. “At trial, the Government will prove these allegations with evidence that the defendant’s supporters took obstructive actions at the Capitol at the defendant’s direction and on his behalf.”
Prosecutors revealed that the evidence they will use includes President Trump’s speech, geolocation of President Trump and his supporters to establish that “many of the defendant’s supporters responded to his direction,” and other videos and photos from that day. They allege that President Trump “used” the crowd to “pressure” Vice President Mike Pence, and added they “will prove at trial” this was the case.
Already underway is a trial in Colorado that seeks to establish the events of Jan. 6, 2021, as an “insurrection” wherein supporters of President Trump came to the nation’s capital “armed” and prepared to commit violence.
The case is not against President Trump, but Colorado’s secretary of state, in an attempt to keep the GOP frontrunner off the state’s primary election ballot. President Trump and his campaign were intervenors in the case.
It was markedly different from similar cases that have been brought in other states, where judges and election officials have been skeptical or outright rejected arguments that a state could keep candidates submitted by the parties off a ballot, without wading into issues of insurrection or President Trump’s role on Jan. 6, 2021.
