Former President Donald Trump is seeking to have his election fraud trial dismissed just one day after prosecutors released a 165-page dossier of evidence in the case.
In a motion to dismiss the case brought by special counsel Jack Smith, Trump’s lawyers argued that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was “caught” on camera admitting her responsibility for the riot at the U.S. Capitol.
“The Special Counsel’s Office seeks to assign blame for events President Trump did not control and took action to protect against,” their filing states.
“It is apparently of no consequence, to the Office and those who support their efforts, that former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was caught on a previously undisclosed video accepting ‘responsibility; for the events at the Capitol,” it adds.
Pelosi was among the Congress members who had to flee the Capitol after Trump supporters stormed the building on January 6, 2021.
Newsweek reached out to the Trump campaign team via email for comment on Friday.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rips up President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech on February 4, 2020. Trump’s lawyers now claim that Pelosi was responsible for the January 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.
Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Thursday’s dismissal motion also states that General Mark A. Milley, the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will be a “star” prosecution witness in the case.
The joint chief of staff is the highest-ranking military officer in the United States.
“Even one of the Office’s star witnesses, General Mark Milley, acknowledged long before charges were brought in this case that President Trump had instructed the Defense Department on January 3, 2021 to ‘make sure that you have sufficient National Guard or Soldiers to make sure it’s a safe event,'” the document states.
Trump’s lawyers claim that the indictment “stretches generally applicable statutes beyond their breaking point” based on “false claims that President Trump is somehow responsible for events at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.”
Much of their argument relies on the case of Fischer v. United States, in which the Supreme Court dismissed an obstruction charge against a man who wandered around the Capitol on January 6.
The Supreme Court said that was not enough to be charged with obstructing Congress; a defendant would have to throw papers around or do some other act that would physically obstruct Congress.
Trump, who is also charged with obstruction of Congress, is now seeking to have that charge and the entire indictment struck out. His lawyers state that the Fischer case shows that the Supreme Court rejects “lawfare overreach targeting President Trump.”
On Wednesday, Federal Judge Tanya Chutkan unsealed the 165 pages of prosecution evidence against Trump. It was the first time the public could see the case against the former president in depth.
It included allegations that a Trump staffer encouraged a riot among Trump supporters outside a Detroit count center during the 2020 election. He allegedly did so after it became clear that Michigan votes were leaning toward Joe Biden.
It also claims that, in mid-December 2020, Trump spoke with Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and “asked her to publicize and promote a private report that had been released on December 13 that purported to identify flaws” in the use of voting machines in Antrim County, Michigan.
McDaniel refused, telling Trump that she had already discussed the report with Michigan’s Speaker of the House, “who had told her the report was inaccurate.”
She conveyed to Trump the Michigan speaker’s “exact assessment: the report was f**king nuts,” the document states.
Nevertheless, Trump continued to claim that the election in Michigan and other states had been rigged in Biden’s favor, the document notes.
Trump is accused of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct a Congressional official proceeding, obstruction and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights in connection with an alleged pressure campaign on state officials to reverse the 2020 election results.
Trump has denied all charges against him and repeatedly said he is the victim of a political witch hunt. He has accused Smith of attempting to interfere in the 2024 presidential election by prosecuting him.
In late August, Smith filed an updated indictment of Trump, reshaping the case to comply with the Supreme Court‘s ruling granting immunity to sitting presidents when conducting certain “official” acts.
The new indictment removes all accusations leveled against Trump regarding attempts to pressure the Department of Justice to falsely declare that President Joe Biden‘s 2020 election win was the result of massive fraud.
