Prosecutors Seek To Bar Trump From Injecting Politics Into Federal Election Interference Trial

On Wednesday, Special Counsel Jack Smith requested a judge to prevent the attorneys representing the former president from bringing up political issues during his trial regarding allegations that he plotted to rig the 2020 election results. In a 20-page filing, Smith’s office informed U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan that Trump’s attorneys ought to be barred from “raising irrelevant political issues or arguments in front of the jury,” citing, among other things, the accusations that the prosecution against him is biassed and spiteful or that it was orchestrated by President Joe Biden.

Prosecutors wrote, “These allegations are not only false, they are irrelevant to the jury’s decision regarding the defendant’s guilt or innocence, would be prejudicial if presented to the jury, and must be excluded.”

Prosecutors are attempting to impose restrictions on what information they think the jury should or shouldn’t hear when the case goes to trial by filing the move to prevent Trump from presenting broad categories of arguments. It was filed because the former president is arguing that he is not liable for actions he took while in the White House, and the case is essentially on hold while this appeal is being heard.

A federal appeals panel is scheduled to hear arguments on the matter on January 9, but the Supreme Court declined last week to take up the case for the time being. The trial in federal court in Washington is set for March 4, but appeals regarding the immunity issue may cause it to be postponed.

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Trump’s lawyers had earlier asked Chutkan to dismiss the case because the indictment was vindictive and selective. In their motion Wednesday, prosecutors said that the request should not only be denied but Trump’s lawyers should be prohibited from making that argument to a jury during the trial.

“Although the defendant is entitled to cross-examine the Government’s law enforcement witnesses about matters fairly within the scope of their direct testimony, he cannot raise wholly irrelevant topics to confuse and distract the jury,” prosecutors said. “Much as the defendant would like it otherwise, this trial should be about the facts and the law, not politics.”

The motion also seeks to prevent Trump from telling jurors about the potential punishment he could face if convicted, as well as blaming law enforcement agencies for a lack of preparation in advance of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, when Trump loyalists motivated by the then president’s false claims of voter fraud stormed the building to disrupt the certification of electoral votes.

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“A bank robber cannot defend himself by blaming the bank’s security guard for failing to stop him,” prosecutors wrote. “A fraud defendant cannot claim to the jury that his victims should have known better than to fall for his scheme. And the defendant cannot argue that law enforcement should have prevented the violence he caused and obstruction he intended.”

Though Trump’s state of mind, as he sought to overturn the results of the election he lost to Biden, will be a pivotal question for jurors, prosecutors said defense lawyers should not be permitted to elicit speculative testimony from witnesses about his thoughts or beliefs. They also said he should not be permitted to introduce any evidence about alleged foreign influence in the 2020 race, saying it would be an “irrelevant and confusing sideshow.”

(Source: PTI)