Published January 17, 2024
- Trump’s legal team claims in a filing that US intelligence agencies are ‘politically motivated and biased’ against him in this case
- Lawyers even referenced Trump’s win in Iowa Tuesday and called the case ‘election interference’
- The trial is set to begin on May 20, though Trump has demanded be pushed to after the election
Former President Donald Trump‘s legal team looks set to claim US intelligence agencies were out to get him, according to a new legal filing ahead of his classified documents case.
Trump has been charged by Special Counsel Jack Smith on crimes related to his attempt to overturn the 2020 election and for hoarding classified documents he moved from the White House to Mar-a-Lago.
Lawyers for Trump said in a motion filed Tuesday that they will dispute prosecutors’ allegations that the estate where the records were stored was not secure, in a case Trump has demanded be pushed to after the election.
The defense team also said that they are seeking communication between Smith’s team and associates of President Joe Biden in hopes of advancing their claims that the classified documents case is ‘politically motivated and biased,’ designed to harm Trump’s 2024 campaign.
The brief, which asks a judge to compel special counsel Jack Smith’s team to turn over a trove of information, offers the most expansive view yet of potential lines of defense in one of the four criminal cases Trump faces.
This is all happening as he seeks to capture the Republican nomination and reclaim the White House, with the filing entered just a day after he won a landslide victory in the Iowa Caucus.
The filing offers a blend of legal analysis and political bombast that has come to be expected in Trump team motions.
It even references Trump’s record victory this week and decries the charges as ‘partisan election interference.’
‘The Special Counsel’s Office has disregarded basic discovery obligations and DOJ policies in an effort to support the Biden Administration’s egregious efforts to weaponize the criminal justice system in pursuit of an objective that President Biden cannot achieve on the campaign trail: slowing down President Trump’s leading campaign in the 2024 presidential election,’ Trump’s lawyers wrote.
One of the filing’s requests includes information on Thomas P. Windom, a chief deputy of Smith’s who leads the prosecution in one of Trump’s other cases.
Trump’s lawyers said that the National Archives reached out to Windom in February 2022, suggesting a conflict of interest.
They also want details on a security clearance that Trump held on to from the Department of Energy after he left the White House, which lawyers say could help Trump defend himself.
Despite Trump’s repeated claims, there is no evidence of any coordination between the Justice Department and the White House, which has said it had no advance knowledge of the FBI‘s August 2022 search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate that recovered dozens of classified documents he had taken with him when he left the White House.
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SOURCE: www.dailymail.co.uk
RELATED: Trump Signals Plans to Go After Intelligence Community in Document Case
Court papers filed by his lawyers, formally a request for discovery evidence, sounded at times more like political talking points.
Published January 16, 2024
Lawyers for former President Donald J. Trump said in court papers filed on Tuesday night that they intended to place accusations that the intelligence community was biased against Mr. Trump at the heart of their defense against charges accusing him of illegally holding onto dozens of highly sensitive classified documents after he left office.
The lawyers also indicated that they were planning to defend Mr. Trump by seeking to prove that the investigation of the case was “politically motivated and biased.”
The court papers, filed in Federal District Court in Fort Pierce, Fla., gave the clearest picture yet of the scorched earth legal strategy that Mr. Trump is apparently planning to use in fighting the classified documents indictment handed up over the summer.
While the 68-page filing was formally a request by Mr. Trump’s lawyers to the office of the special counsel, Jack Smith, to provide them with reams of additional information that they believe can help them fight the charges, it often read more like a list of political talking points than a brief of legal arguments.
Criminal defendants routinely make such requests in what are known as motions to compel discovery, but many of the requests in Mr. Trump’s filing appeared intended to paint Mr. Trump as the victim of the spy agencies that once served him and of purported collusion between the Biden administration and prosecutors who have filed some of the four criminal cases he now faces.
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SOURCE: www.nytimes.com
RELATED: Trump’s Legal Team Prepares Defense Strategy, Alleges Political Bias in Classified Documents Case
Published January 17, 2024
Legal Filing Reveals Trump’s Defense Strategy Amid Classified Documents Case
In a recent legal filing ahead of the classified documents case, former President Donald Trump’s legal team signaled their intention to assert that U.S. intelligence agencies were targeting him.
Special Counsel Jack Smith has charged Trump with crimes related to his attempts to overturn the 2020 election and for hoarding classified documents moved from the White House to Mar-a-Lago.
The filing discloses a comprehensive defense strategy that includes disputing allegations of inadequate security at Mar-a-Lago and seeking information on communications between Smith’s team and associates of President Joe Biden.
Disputing Prosecutors’ Claims
Trump’s defense team, in a motion filed on Tuesday, outlined plans to dispute prosecutors’ claims that the estate where the classified records were stored lacked security.
They argue that the case should be delayed until after the 2024 election, a demand Trump has emphasized.
Additionally, the defense aims to highlight potential political bias, asserting that the charges are part of a concerted effort to hinder Trump’s 2024 campaign.
Expansive View of Defense Lines
The legal filing provides an expansive view of potential defense lines in one of the four criminal cases facing Trump.
It combines legal analysis with political rhetoric, referencing Trump’s recent victory in the Iowa Caucus and characterizing the charges as ‘partisan election interference.’
The defense contends that the Special Counsel’s Office has neglected discovery obligations and DOJ policies, accusing them of aligning with the Biden Administration’s agenda.
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SOURCE: www.tdpelmedia.com
