Former President Donald Trump’s lawyers are throwing everything but the kitchen sink at federal prosecutors accusing him of conspiring to undermine the 2020 election. That’s according to court filings Monday night, which effectively amount to a wide-ranging attempt to reinforce his election fraud allegations and more.
In two motions filed Monday evening that listed at least 59 demands, Trump lawyers John Lauro and Todd Blanche requested extensive material from U.S. intelligence agencies and the Justice Department on whether they were “undercover agents” or “informants” for the Trump Lawyers gave government at the US Capitol during the riots on January 6, 2021.
Hunter Biden is prepared to testify before the Oversight Committee in a public hearing, his lawyer says
Prosecutors and lawyers for former President Donald Trump are scheduled to meet on August 28 for a hearing where U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan may set a trial date for his federal criminal case over alleged attempts to undermine the 2020 election.
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“Please provide any documents relating to informants, cooperators, undercover agents, or persons acting in a similar capacity on behalf of or at the behest of the Department of Justice or a law enforcement agency” who were within 5 miles of the Capitol on that day, as well Information about anyone involved in “supporting, planning or promoting activities related to the protest, breach or trespass” at the Capitol, the lawyers wrote in “Exhibit 2” of their request.
Additionally, the filing argues that Trump is entitled to all information related to “foreign influence efforts related to the 2020 election” and points to documented efforts by foreign actors to interfere in the 2016 election, which he won against Hillary Clinton had won.
In addition, Trump’s team asked prosecutors to turn over communications between President Joe Biden and family members, including his son Hunter Biden. His lawyers also want information about the DOJ’s interactions with Trump’s former Vice President Mike Pence.
The defense team’s documents were received by November 27th. The deadline for filing any motions to compel the prosecution to produce evidence relevant to the case. Smith’s office has until Dec. 11 to object to those motions, and the defense has until Dec. 18 to file any supporting responses.
Regarding the request for intelligence information related to Jan. 6, Trump’s lawyers took pains to say that they neither endorse nor support the “Fedsurrection” conspiracy that alleges government officials organized the Capitol insurrection.
“Rather, in this case, information about individuals who were present in an official capacity is beneficial to President Trump because it suggests that adequate controls were in place and that the violence in question resulted from a failure of those controls and/or a failed sting “Operations in lieu of any instructions from President Trump,” his lawyers wrote.
Although Smith’s team is required to turn over evidence it has already collected that could help Trump’s defense, it only has to provide documents available to the special counsel’s team, which may not have access to the information Trump is seeking.
A separate filing asks the judge more generally to force Smith to produce discovery that was deemed “sensitive” under a protective order in the case. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is presiding over the case, previously granted Smith’s request to designate witness interviews and recordings as sensitive material that the defense cannot access.
Chutkan on Monday also disputed Trump’s attempt to subpoena lawmakers for information he said was missing from the committee’s Jan. 6 archives, dismissing his efforts as a “fishing expedition.”
Smith was appointed special counsel overseeing the Trump investigation by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November 2022, months after the DOJ obtained a search warrant to obtain classified documents as part of a separate investigation into Trump’s alleged misuse of such materials.
Since his August indictment in the Washington, D.C. case, Trump’s team has made it clear that they want a jury trial after the 2024 election, although Chutkan has ruled that the trial will begin on March 4, a day before a massive wave of primary elections Super Tuesday.
Since then, defense attorneys have seized every opportunity to file motions demanding more evidence, sometimes outside the scope of the case, to ensure full preparation ahead of a trial date that they say is too early and would amount to political interference during an election year. Meanwhile, a separate appeal is underway at the Supreme Court over Trump’s disagreement with a narrow gag order issued against him.
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The motions filed in Chutkan’s court relate to Smith’s indictment of Trump in Washington, D.C., which brings four counts against the former president for his alleged involvement in a “conspiracy” to overturn Biden’s 2020 election victory.
Trump, who is fighting four separate criminal charges, faces charges in the Jan. 6 case that include conspiracy to defraud the United States, two counts related to obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy to violate rights over efforts to undermine the indictment would deny, belong to legitimate votes. He has pleaded not guilty to all 91 counts he faces in the four separate indictments, including two federal charges and two state charges in New York and Georgia, respectively.
Read the submissions below and click here to access the 25 cumulative documents attached to both submissions:
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