Evening Report

© Jacquelyn Martin, Associated Press file

Inside the special counsel case against Trump

Special counsel Jack Smith outlined his election subversion case in a monster 165-page filing that reveals new details about how former President Trump and his allies allegedly sought to disrupt the 2020 vote count and alter the outcome of the election.

Trump’s lawyers sought to keep the filing under seal, but U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan made the brief public, albeit with key portions redacted or kept under seal.

• Smith’s filing came in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling that presidents retain immunity for official acts.
  
  
• The Supreme Court remanded the case back to Chutkan’s court to determine whether it complies with their ruling and should move forward.

In the filing, Smith made the case that’s Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the election were a “private scheme” conducted by a candidate, rather than an exercise of his core constitutional powers as the sitting president.

Among Smith’s arguments that Trump’s actions were campaign-related, rather than official:

• Trump’s Jan. 6 speech was organized by private individuals and promoted as a campaign rally.
  
  
• Trump walked on stage to “Y.M.C.A.” by the Village People, a campaign rally song, rather than the presidential anthem “Hail to the Chief.”

What are the new revelations?

• The filing alleges Trump knew his stolen election claims were false, but that he stoked unrest and schemed to overturn the results anyway. Smith alleges Trump was repeatedly given the “unvarnished truth” by those around him, but that he “made up figures from whole cloth” while co-conspirators “repeatedly changed the numbers in their baseless fraud allegations from day to day.”
  
  
• Smith says Trump relentlessly pressured then-Vice President Pence to do whatever he needed to do to steal the election, despite Pence’s repeated brushbacks. Trump then showed disregard for Pence’s safety, telling an aide “so what” amid reports that the vice president had to be taken to a secure location to escape angry rioters.
  
  
• Trump’s team is accused of seeking to “create chaos” and “confusion” at polling places where votes were being tabulated. One aide allegedly ordered colleagues to “make them riot” at a vote counting center as part of a plan to undermine the results.

How is Trump responding?

• Trump and his team are furious that the filing was released with just over a month to go before the election, arguing that Trump will not have a chance to defend himself in court against the allegations.
  
  
• In an........
  

  © The Hill