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Prosecutors have alleged in a new court filing that Donald Trump engaged in criminal activities in a desperate attempt to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election, asserting that the former president cannot claim immunity from the charges.
The filing, which was publicly released on Wednesday, was submitted by Special Counsel Jack Smith, the prosecutor tasked with leading the investigation into Trump’s alleged election interference.
Prosecutors argue in the filing that Trump’s assertion of immunity, based on a Supreme Court decision from this summer granting protection for official actions in office, is not valid.
Given that the trial won’t happen before Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, squares off against Democratic rival Kamala Harris in the upcoming election, the 165-page court filing could be the prosecutors’ last detailed presentation of their case.
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Prosecutors, in Wednesday’s filing, argue that Trump was not consistently acting in an official capacity but rather engaged in a “private criminal scheme” aimed at overturning the 2020 election results.
The document is an effort by prosecutors to advance the criminal case against Trump following the Supreme Court ruling in July.
It prompted prosecutors to narrow the scope of their indictment. That is because the ruling did not apply immunity to unofficial acts, leading prosecutors to argue that while Trump may still have been in office some of his alleged efforts to overturn the election were related to his campaign and his life as a private citizen.
