WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawyers for Donald Trump plan to urge a judge to dismiss the case case of subversion of the federal elections against the former president after a Supreme Court Opinion That narrowed the scope of the landmark prosecution, according to a court filing late Friday.
The defense team foreshadowed a series of expected challenges that would drag on well into the year as the criminal case accusing Trump of plotting to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election would continue.
This includes arguments that a new and more limited charge The document that prosecutors released this week still contains allegations for which Trump is entitled to immunity as a former president, such as his conversations with former Vice President Mike Pence.
Defense attorneys also plan to request dismissal of the case “as a threshold matter.” the same grounds cited by a federal judge in Florida last month by filing a separate prosecution accusing Trump of illegally hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate. The judge in that case, Aileen Cannon, ruled that special prosecutor Jack Smith, whose team brought the case, was improperly appointed and that his office was improperly funded.
The filing in federal court in Washington, filed jointly by prosecutors and defense attorneys, offers dueling proposals for the next steps in the criminal case and precedes a status conference set for next week — the first appearance in the case in months.
The Trump team’s proposed timeline foresees the case remaining in pre-trial arguments until possibly fall 2025, or well after the November presidential election. Smith’s team did not propose specific dates but said it would be prepared to file an opening brief “immediately at any time the Court deems appropriate” on the central issue of Trump’s immunity from prosecution.
The filing is an acknowledgment of the radically changed legal landscape since Smith filed the suit in June 2023 and the challenges prosecutors have encountered in their efforts to hold Trump accountable this year.
Although prosecutors initially accused Trump of far-reaching plans to cling to power and block the peaceful transition of power, they now must contend with the aftermath of a Supreme Court ruling that said former presidents enjoy absolute immunity for basic constitutional acts and are presumptively immune . for other official actions they undertake as president.
Smith’s team responded to the ruling this week with a new complaint that dropped allegations related to Trump’s dealings with the Justice Department, an area of conduct for which the court said Trump was immune from prosecution, and made other changes .
But Trump’s lawyers believe prosecutors haven’t gone far enough, saying they “strongly argue that many types of conduct alleged in the Superseding Indictment are immune — including, but not limited to, tweets and public statements about the 2020 federal presidential election, communications with state officials regarding the federal election, and allegations regarding alternative electoral rolls.”
They said they particularly objected to the continued inclusion of allegations about Trump harassing Pence to get him to refuse to certify the counting of electoral votes. The Supreme Court said Trump was “at least presumptively immune” from prosecution for that conduct.
“If the Court determines, as it should, that the special counsel cannot rebut the presumption that these acts are immune, binding law requires that the entire indictment be dismissed because the grand jury considered immunized evidence,” attorneys for Trump Friday.