by Elizabeth Crisp & Lauren Sforza
Special counsel Jack Smith wants to bar former President Trump from making “political attacks” about his federal 2020 election subversion criminal prosecution at trial — a request that the former president appeared to lash out at Wednesday.
Senior assistant special counsel Molly Gaston accused Trump’s legal team in court papers Wednesday of trying to “inject into this case partisan political attacks and irrelevant and prejudicial issues that have no place in a jury trial” (The Hill). Ultimately, the prosecutors are seeking to bar certain evidence that suggests Trump is being selectively prosecuted from the trial.
What Gaston wrote: “The Court should not permit the defendant to turn the courtroom into a forum in which he propagates irrelevant disinformation, and should reject his attempt to inject politics into this proceeding.”
How Trump responded: “Crooked Joe Biden’s 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 ‘case’ is stayed and there should be no litigation.”
The prosecutors are also asking D.C. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan to prevent Trump from blaming the D.C. mayor or the National Guard for the Jan. 6 attacks. They are further seeking to bar him from claiming to jurors that there were undercover federal agents present at the Capitol that day.
▪ Trump and Hunter Biden find common ground: The Hill’s Rebecca Beitsch dives into the separate cases Trump and the president’s son, Hunter Biden, are facing in 2024. Both men are turning to similar arguments in longshot efforts to get their respective cases dismissed as they each maintain they have been selectively and vindictively prosecuted. Read more.
Hunter Biden is facing nine total charges — including six misdemeanors and three felonies — related to tax evasion and other tax-related crimes. In addition, the House GOP has been investigating whether President Biden was involved in his son’s and other family members’ business dealings.
▪ The Hill: The House GOP is suggesting that President Biden may have obstructed justice if he knew his son was planning to subvert a congressional subpoena earlier this month.