Lawyer argues Trump's actions in 2020 election were private wrongdoing

In a recent filing, special counsel Jack Smith's team asserted that former President Donald Trump was acting as a private candidate rather than as the president of the United States when he sought to overturn his 2020 election defeat. The filing disclosed new information regarding the scheme central to Trump's federal election interference case. This comes in response to the Supreme Court's ruling, which granted Trump immunity for specific actions taken during his presidency and restricted prosecutors from utilizing his official acts in their case.

Smith's team contended that the 2024 Republican presidential nominee 'must stand trial for his private crimes as would any other citizen.' In August, a federal grand jury issued a superseding indictment against Trump, adjusting Smith's case to align with the Supreme Court's directive. According to Smith's team, Trump 'resorted to crimes to try to stay in office' after his loss. They claimed he initiated 'a series of increasingly desperate plans to overturn the legitimate election results in seven states that he had lost — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.'

Schemes and Manipulations

Moreover, Trump was informed that the election night results might be misleading due to the time required to count mail-in ballots, which were anticipated to favor Joe Biden. Smith's team revealed that Trump told his advisors that he 'would simply declare victory before all the ballots were counted and a winner was projected.' He subsequently began laying the groundwork for this narrative by telling his supporters that he would only lose if there was fraud.

This filing sheds light on new details surrounding Trump's alleged attempts to undermine the integrity of the 2020 election. The assertions made by Smith's team paint a picture of a concerted effort to deceive and manipulate the electoral process.