Donald Trump sharply criticized special counsel Jack Smith after new evidence from the Jan. 6 Capitol riot was made public just weeks before the election.
The former president accused President Biden’s Justice Department of “election interference” after the release of 165 pages of evidence in his case, revealing private conversations Trump had with his employees, lawyers and allies.
In a shocking move, Washington, D.C. Judge Tanya Chutkan unsealed the file and made it public on Wednesday, despite Trump’s lawyers’ arguments against it.
“FOR 60 DAYS BEFORE THE ELECTION, THE DEPARTMENT OF INJUSTICE IS SUPPOSED TO DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING THAT WOULD CONTINUE OR INTERFERE WITH A CASE,” Trump wrote in all caps on his Truth Social social media platform.
Former President Donald Trump reacted angrily to new information made public about the case against him brought by special counsel Jack Smith.
The Department of Justice does not have official “rule” that prevents a case from being filed 60 days before an election, but is considered “general practice” among law enforcement professionals in the department to avoid politically motivated allegations in cases.
The former president shared several posts on social media criticizing the decision as evidence of election interference by the Department of Justice during the administration of Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
However, special counsel Smith has moved forward with his trial even after the Supreme Court ruled that the president would be immune from prosecution for official actions he took as president of the United States, effectively delaying the trial until after the election.
Smith’s filing maintains that Trump’s conduct around Jan. 6 were actions as a private individual and not official acts of a president.
“Donald Trump launched a ‘private criminal effort’ to subvert the 2020 US election and should not be protected by presidential immunity,” he wrote.
This combination of images created on August 5, 2023 shows Special Counsel Jack Smith in Washington, DC, on August 1, 2023, and former US President Donald Trump in Palm Beach, Florida, on November 8, 2022.
Former US president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event
Trump insisted, however, that Smith was out of line.
“THEY DISOBEYED THEIR OWN RULE IN FAVOR OF COMPLETE AND TOTAL ELECTORAL INTERFERENCE,” he wrote.
The new filing reveals tense private conversations between Trump and his Vice President, Mike Pence, over his decision to certify the election, disputing with Trump and his allies that he had the legal power to stop it. It also outlines actions the president took to sow doubt about the vote count in important swing states.
President Trump argued on social media that the new filing was just one more way the Biden administration was trying to interfere with the election.
‘I DID NOT DO ANYTHING WRONG, THEY DID IT!’ he wrote. ‘THE CASE IS A SCAM, LIKE ALL THE OTHERS, INCLUDING THE DOCUMENTS CASE, WHICH WAS DISMISSED!’
Hours earlier, Trump described the new information as evidence of “another obvious attempt by the Harris-Biden regime to undermine and weaponize American democracy” by trying to distract from the running mate’s Tuesday debate performance. from Vice President Kamala Harris, Governor Tim Walz. evening.
“Democrats are arming the Department of Justice against me because they know I’m WINNING and they’re desperate to prop up their failed candidate, Kamala Harris,” he wrote. “The Justice Department dismissed this latest ‘slam’ today because JD Vance humiliated Tim Walz last night in the debate.