Special counsel Jack Smith filed a motion Wednesday asking a judge to bar Donald Trump and his lawyers from injecting “political attacks” and conspiracy theories into his upcoming election subversion trial.
The 20-page filing, obtained by The Daily Beast, specifically asks U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to ban Trump from “raising irrelevant political issues or arguments in front of the jury,” a sweeping request that’d likely disrupt Trump’s defense strategy.
The motion said these political attacks, “in addition to being wrong,” would also be “prejudicial if presented to the jury.” It cited Trump’s public comments outside the courtroom—namely his claims that President Joe Biden has ordered his prosecution because he’s seeking a return to the White House—as evidence that he’d likely claim on the stand that his criminal trial in Washington, D.C., is politically motivated.
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“Through public statements, filings, and argument in hearings before the court, the defense has attempted to inject into this case partisan political attacks and irrelevant and prejudicial issues that have no place in a jury trial,” the motion read.
Prosecutors requested that Trump be barred from telling jurors about the potential punishment he faces if convicted. The filing also asked that Trump be barred from blaming law enforcement’s lack of preparation on Jan. 6, 2021, as reason the riot, which he’s alleged to have incited, got out of hand at the U.S. Capitol.
“A bank robber cannot defend himself by blaming the bank’s security guard for failing to stop him,” the motion said.
Prosecutors also requested that Chutkan bar Trump from introducing any evidence about potential foreign influence in the 2020 election, saying it’d be an “irrelevant and confusing sideshow.”
The filing comes as uncertainty swirls about the start date of Trump’s trial. It’s scheduled to be held in March, which would make it the first of Trump’s quartet of indictments to commence, but Trump’s attempts to argue that his position as president gave him immunity to the alleged crimes—an argument that was already struck down by Chutkan—has yet to be heard by an appeals court. It’s likely destined to reach the Supreme Court early next year.
A decision on Trump’s immunity status must be determined before his election subversion trial can begin. Smith has argued that Trump is only seeking immunity to delay the trial until after the 2024 election next fall.
The Supreme Court on Friday said it would not bypass a federal appeals court to rule on Trump’s immunity claim—a fast-track request made by Smith in hopes it’d keep Trump’s trial on schedule.
