OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former President Donald Trump is tearing into Special Counsel Jack Smith after he went around the normal procedures and asked the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether the ex-president can invoke immunity in the 2020 election case.
Trump accused Smith of “election interference” in a Truth Social post following the special counsel’s decision to bypass the federal appeals court and go straight to the nation’s highest court to determine whether the former president can assert his complete immunity from federal prosecution for alleged criminal attempts to overturn the results of the last election, given that these actions occurred while he was in office.
“So Deranged Jack Smith, the Biden appointed ‘nut job’ prosecutor with a big record of loses because he goes too far, wants to RUSH, RUSH, RUSH to the Supreme Court on the important matter of Presidential Immunity, something which is so basic to America that it should be automatic,” Trump wrote on Wednesday.
The federal trial is scheduled to commence in March 2024. In his court filings, Smith emphasized the “imperative public importance” of a swift ruling by the Supreme Court on the immunity defense. Another important factor for the ex-president is the scheduling of the federal election trial, in which Trump has entered not-guilty pleas to four counts.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing in the federal case and has long claimed that all criminal investigations against him are “witch hunts” with a political agenda to derail his chances of winning the next election.
“[Smith] doesn’t want to go to our Highest Court with a loss, or negative opinion, but what he does want to do is INTERFERE WITH THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 2024, hoping to damage Biden’s POLITICAL OPPONENT. In other words he want to CHEAT, because if they really wanted SPEED, they would have brought this ridiculous lawsuit 3 years ago, and it would be long ago over,” added the former president in his post.
“But no, they Waited, and Waited, and Waited, and brought it right in the middle of my Presidential Campaign—THE DEFINITION OF ELECTION INTERFERENCE!!!”
Smith’s team has pathetically claimed that a president’s responsibilities do not include the acts described in the indictment.
No sitting president has ever faced criminal charges. Trump’s legal team is attempting to have the indictment dismissed using this lack of prior case law. Though it has not yet been determined whether or not the president’s immunity covers criminal prosecution, the Supreme Court has determined that he or she is generally immune from civil liability.
On Monday, the Supreme Court told Trump’s legal team to submit their responses by December 20, after they agreed to accept the case.
Separate filings with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit argued, unsuccessfully, that the court should deny Smith’s request for an expedited appeal. In their briefs, Trump’s attorneys compared the special counsel to the Grinch, saying that the former president’s opening brief would be due the day after Christmas due to his proposed schedule.
“In any event, the public’s need for a speedy resolution of these important legal issues takes precedence over personal scheduling issues,” prosecutors wrote.
Trump’s 2024 re-election campaign issued a strongly worded statement criticizing Smith and President Joe Biden, who is also running for a second term, for their efforts to stick with a March 4 trial date in the case, which is one day before the Super Tuesday primaries.
“Crooked Joe Biden’s henchman, Deranged Jack Smith, is so obsessed with interfering in the 2024 Presidential Election to prevent President Trump from retaking the Oval Office, as the President is poised to do, that Smith is willing to try for a Hail Mary by racing to the Supreme Court and attempting to bypass the appellate process,” a Trump spokesperson said of the filing.
