Special Counsel Jack Smith, fresh off his loss at the Supreme Court where justicesĀ refused to expedite a rulingĀ on the immunity question, is now asking the Washington D.C. trial court to muzzle former President Donald Trump andĀ prevent him from spreading ādisinformationāĀ and injecting politics into the case. The case concerns what Smith sees as attempts to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election.
Smith wants the former president to stop talking so much:
Special counsel Jack Smith asked a Washington, DC, federal judge Wednesday to rule out former President Donald Trumpās attempts āto inject politicsā into his Jan. 6 case,Ā arguing in a court filingĀ it will āensure that the jury remains focused on its fact-finding duty and applies the law as instructed by the Court.ā
Smith said the 45th president has made āunsupported and politicized claims of selective and vindictive prosecutionā and āinvestigative misconduct,ā with TrumpĀ referring to his chargesĀ for trying to overturn the 2020 election result as one of several āBiden Indictmentsā by āhis Injustice Department.ā
The 20-page motion also argues that Trump shouldnāt be allowed to complain that the trial would interfere with his presidential campaign and that any arguments of this type should be forbidden.
āIn addition to being wrong, these allegations are irrelevant to the juryās determination of the defendantās guilt or innocence,ā Smith wrote, āwould be prejudicial if presented to the jury, and must be excluded.ā
Jack Smith does not want Trump to point out to the jury that a political and selective prosecution is political and selective pic.twitter.com/oVHCtYiMMg
— Julie Kelly šŗšø (@julie_kelly2) December 27, 2023
Smith had been gunning for a March 4 trial date — one day before theĀ Super TuesdayĀ primaries, when approximately one-third of all delegates to the presidential nominating conventions will be won — but the SCOTUS refusal to rush the immunity question puts that into doubt.
Trump issued a statement after the ruling:
Crooked Joe Bidenās errand boy Deranged Jack Smith is so obsessed with attacking President Trump and interfering with the 2024 Presidential Election, and is so sad that the Supreme Court just unanimously rejected his desperate attempt to rush this Witch Hunt, that he is ignoring the law and clear instructions from District Court Judge Chutkan, who unequivocally stated that this ācaseā is stayed and there should be no litigation. Period.
RedStateāsĀ ShipwreckedcrewĀ warns, however, that this is a fairly routine motion and we neednāt get too worked up about it:
I'll be doing a story on my Subway Stacker page a little later. Don't invest too much energy into what others are writing about this filing by Smith if those others don't have a background in this area of the practice of law. This is one of those things that experienced trialā¦
— Shipwreckedcrew (@shipwreckedcrew) December 27, 2023
The second tweet continues:
This is one of those things that experienced trial attorneys do all the time, but those without the background might think — wrongly — is earth-shattering.
We can be sure to see much more legal wheeling and dealing as we head into 2024 and the relentless lawfare pursuit of Trump marches on.