Current:Home > ScamsTrump’s lawyers file challenges to Washington election subversion case, calling it unconstitutional-LoTradeCoin
Trump’s lawyers file challenges to Washington election subversion case, calling it unconstitutional
View Date:2024-12-23 22:18:37
WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawyers for Donald Trump are raising new challenges to the federal election subversion case against him, telling a judge that the indictment should be dismissed because it violates the former president’s free speech rights and represents a vindictive prosecution.
The motions filed late Monday in the case charging the Republican with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost are on top of a pending argument by defense attorneys that he is immune from federal prosecution for actions taken within his official role as president.
Special counsel Jack Smith’s team urged a judge last week to reject that argument and is expected to do the same for the latest motions. It is routine for defendants to ask a judge to dismiss the charges against them, but such requests are rarely granted. In Trump’s case, though, the challenges to the indictment could at a minimum force a delay in a prosecution that is set for trial in Washington next March.
Taken together, the motions cut to the heart of some of Trump’s most oft-repeated public defenses: that he is being prosecuted for political reasons by the Biden administration Justice Department and that he was within his First Amendment rights to challenge the outcome of the election and to allege that it had been tainted by fraud — a finding not supported by courts across the country or even by Trump’s own attorney general.
The lawyers claim prosecutors are attempting to criminalize political speech and political advocacy, arguing that First Amendment protections extend even to statements “made in advocating for government officials to act on one’s views.” They said the prosecution team “cannot criminalize claims that the 2020 Presidential election was stolen” nor “impose its views on a disputed political question” like the election’s integrity.
“The fact that the indictment alleges that the speech at issue was supposedly, according to the prosecution, ‘false’ makes no difference,” the defense wrote. “Under the First Amendment, each individual American participating in a free marketplace of ideas — not the federal Government — decides for him or herself what is true and false on great disputed social and political questions.”
Smith’s team conceded at the outset of the four-count indictment that Trump could indeed lawfully challenge his loss to Democrat Joe Biden but said his actions went far beyond that, including by illegally conspiring to block the official counting of electoral votes by Congress on Jan. 6, 2021, when rioters who supported him stormed the Capitol and caused a violent clash with police and a delay to the proceedings. A spokesman for Smith declined to comment on Tuesday.
The defense lawyers also contend that Trump, the early front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, is being prosecuted for vindictive and political reasons, alleging that “Biden’s publicly stated objective is to use the criminal justice system to incapacitate President Trump, his main political rival and the leading candidate in the upcoming election.” It says the Justice Department appointed Smith as special counsel last year as a way to “insulate Biden and his supporters from scrutiny of their obvious and illegal bias.”
Trump’s lawyers are also asking to strike from the indictment references to the pro-Trump mob’s attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6 because they say prosecutors have not accused the then-president of inciting the riot.
“Allegations in the indictment relating to these actions, when President Trump has not been charged with responsibility for them, is highly prejudicial and inflammatory because members of the jury may wrongfully impute fault to President Trump for these actions,” his attorneys wrote.
___
Richer reported from Boston.
veryGood! (64)
Related
- Dogecoin soars after Trump's Elon Musk announcement: What to know about the cryptocurrency
- John Stamos' 6-year-old son Billy plays drums at Beach Boys concert
- Get an Extra 50% Off Good American Sale Styles, 70% Off Gap, Extra 70% Off J.Crew Sale Section & More
- Jill Biden to rally veterans and military families as Biden team seeks to shift focus back to Trump
- Veterans Day restaurant deals 2024: More than 80 discounts, including free meals
- MyKayla Skinner Says She Didn’t Mean to Offend 2024 Olympics Team With “Hurtful Comments”
- Julia Fox Comes Out as Lesbian
- Security guard is shot to death in Mississippi, and 3 teenagers are charged in the killing
- Texas’ 90,000 DACA recipients can sign up for Affordable Care Act coverage — for now
- The Devil Wears Prada Is Officially Getting a Sequel After 18 Years
Ranking
- Does the NFL have a special teams bias when hiring head coaches? History indicates it does
- Ford, Toyota, General Motors among 57,000 vehicles recalled: Check car recalls here
- Hamas rejects report that it dropped key demand in possible cease-fire deal
- LeBron James re-signs with Lakers to make him and Bronny first father-son duo on same NBA team. But they aren't the only family members to play together.
- US Open finalist Taylor Fritz talks League of Legends, why he hated tennis and how he copied Sampras
- Opponents of Louisiana’s Ten Commandments law want judge to block it before new school year starts
- What are the best-looking pickup trucks in 2024?
- Opponents of Louisiana’s Ten Commandments law want judge to block it before new school year starts
Recommendation
-
Elton John Details Strict Diet in His 70s
-
Teen boy arrested in connection to death of Tennessee girl reported missing last month
-
Rikers Island inmates sue NYC claiming they were trapped in cells during jail fire that injured 20
-
All rail cars carrying hazardous material have been removed from North Dakota derailment site
-
Mattel says it ‘deeply’ regrets misprint on ‘Wicked’ dolls packaging that links to porn site
-
Copa America 2024 Bracket: Canada, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia remain for semifinals
-
Read the letter President Biden sent to House Democrats telling them to support him in the election
-
Rikers Island inmates sue NYC claiming they were trapped in cells during jail fire that injured 20