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Prosecutors are trying to help Joe Biden's "losing" presidential campaign by putting Donald Trump on trial, his lawyers told the judge in Trump's election fraud trial.
The former president is seeking to halt the trial while he appeals it to a higher court and his latest court submission repeatedly accuses the chief prosecutor, Jack Smith, and his team of working for Biden's reelection campaign.
"On behalf of the Biden Administration, the prosecution will do everything that it can to rush to an unconstitutional and fundamentally unfair trial to try to prevent President Trump from winning the 2024 election, which he is currently leading," it states.
The submission to Tanya Chutkan, the judge overseeing Trump's election case, states that the election fraud trial should be delayed while Trump appeals it to a higher court.
"The prosecution's frivolous and unsupportable opposition demonstrates their improper motivation and their desperation. The stay sought by President Trump is mandatory," the filing adds, while claiming that President Bill Clinton was allowed the same right.
"Indeed, a district court issued exactly the type of stay President Trump requests here in connection with President Clinton's appeal of the denial of his presidential immunity. See Jones v. Clinton," it states.
Clinton sought a delay pending appeal in a civil case taken by Arkansas state worker Paula Jones, who was suing him for sexual harassment.
It says that, in the prosecutors' "dream world" they would "continue to file false motions with inaccurate descriptions of the evidence in order to harm President Trump's reputation and bolster President Biden's losing campaign."
The former president was indicted on four counts in Washington, D.C., for allegedly working to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the run-up to the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges, including conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding.
It is one of four criminal cases that Trump is facing while he campaigns as frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination. He has also pleaded not guilty to charges in the other cases and has repeatedly said that they form part of a political witch hunt.
Newsweek sought email comment on Wednesday from Donald Trump's attorney.
Tuesday's filing by Trump's legal team comes after Special Counsel Jack Smith asked the U.S. Supreme Court to quickly review Trump's presidential immunity to prevent any delays to the trial, which is due to begin on March 4.
In their filing on Tuesday, the Trump lawyers state that the Supreme Court case "will necessarily detract from the amount of time the Court contemplated for pretrial proceedings in the August 28, 2023 scheduling order. Doc. Insofar as a just outcome is the objective, this will necessarily delay the trial."
Earlier this month, Chutkan ruled that Trump is not immune from federal prosecution. The presidency "does not confer a lifelong 'get-out-of-jail-free' pass," she wrote.
"Former presidents enjoy no special conditions on their federal criminal liability," Chutkan wrote. "Defendant may be subject to federal investigation, indictment, prosecution, conviction, and punishment for any criminal acts undertaken while in office."
About the writer
Sean O'Driscoll is a Newsweek Senior Crime and Courts Reporter based in Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. law. ... Read more