By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and FARNOUSH AMIRI
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump “laid the groundwork for his crimes” well before Election Day in 2020. He said “the details don’t matter” when told his election fraud claims would fail in court. And his response to learning that then-Vice President Mike Pence was taken to a secure location as rioters stormed the Capitol?
“So what?”
That’s according to a 165-page court filing from special counsel Jack Smith’s team that paints a portrait of a president so desperate to cling to power that he “resorted to crimes” after losing the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden.
The filing unsealed Wednesday provides a glimpse into the evidence and testimony prosecutors plan to present if the case accusing Trump of an illegal scheme to overturn the 2020 election ever reaches trial.
The Republican presidential nominee has maintained that he did nothing illegal and has characterized the case as an attempt to hurt his bid to reclaim the White House in November. Trump’s lawyers who have pushed to dismiss the case will now get a chance to respond in court to prosecutors’ claims.
Here are some of the key passages from the filing:
Trump laid the groundwork for his scheme early, prosecutors say
Prosecutors allege Trump started laying the foundation for his illegal scheme well before election day, refusing to say in the months leading up to it whether he would accept the results and suggesting he could only lose if there was fraud.
Three days before the election, a Trump political adviser told a group of supporters that the then-president was “going to declare himself the winner” no matter the outcome,” according to prosecutors.
“That doesn’t mean he’s the winner, he’s just going to say he’s the winner,” the adviser said.
Trump “did exactly that” immediately following the election, prosecutors said. Then, in the days following the election, Trump’s allies “sought to create chaos” at polling places…
Read the full article here
