Trump's attorneys request judge block Jack Smith's upcoming public filing

By 
 September 21, 2024

Former President Donald Trump's attorneys made it abundantly clear to a judge this week that Special Counsel Jack Smith should not be allowed to make a particular public filing at this time. 

They argued that the important public filing should not entered while there are still lingering evidence disputes, the Daily Caller reported.

The former president's attorneys made the request to Judge Tanya Chutkan, who had decided that Smith could enter the public filing at this time, urging her to reconsider her decision.

The request is the latest in a series of twists and turns in Trump's Jan. 6 case.

What's happening?

Part of the reasoning for the request includes the implications from the U.S. Supreme Court's immunity ruling that favored Trump heavily in the case.

In their request to the judge, Trump's attorneys argued that there are "ongoing discovery violations in this case that implicate Presidential immunity and other strong defenses, including the Office’s failure to produce exculpatory evidence concerning the flaws with this prosecution and the Office’s false allegations."

The Daily Caller noted:

They said prosecutors conducted their evidence review at a time when they “wholly denied the existence of Presidential immunity,” before the Supreme Court’s July 1 decision finding former presidents immune from prosecution for official acts taken in office.

The former president's legal team added, "The Supreme Court’s recent decision established important parameters for the procedural and substantive consideration of this defense that the Office could not possibly have accounted for when the bulk of discovery was collected and produced."

It was reported that Trump's attorneys argued that the Supreme Court immunity ruling provided a defense for all of Smith's superseding charges in the case, even the ones regarding former Vice President Mike Pence.

"The Office’s planned filing in defense of the defective Superseding Indictment, before President Trump has had an opportunity to obtain and review all required discovery, will add to ‘the peculiar public opprobrium that attaches to [these] criminal proceedings’ as the election rapidly approaches," Trump's attorneys said.

Arguing for dismissal

Trump's legal team, who have scored a number of legal victories for their client over the past year, want the case dismissed completely.

They argued as such in the request to Chutkan.

"Dismissal is required to protect the integrity of the Presidency and the upcoming election, as well as the Constitutional rights of President Trump and the American people," his attorneys wrote.

Only time will tell if Chutkan agrees with their argument. If so, it'll likely be the last we hear about Smith and his prosecutors as far as Trump is concerned.

" A free people [claim] their rights, as derived from the laws of nature."
Thomas Jefferson