Attorneys for former President Donald Trump accused Special Counsel Jack Smith of “election interference” after the former filed a motion with the US Supreme Court asking for a decision on whether the former president can be charged with crimes in connection with the riot that occurred at the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021.
Smith asked the nation’s highest court to rule quickly on a move he filed on Monday, asking the justices to decide whether Trump is immune from prosecution.
In a sharply worded statement, Trump’s 2024 reelection campaign attacked Smith and President Joe Biden—who is also seeking reelection—for their attempts to maintain the case’s March 4 trial date, which falls one day before the Super Tuesday primaries.
Smith’s petition will be reviewed by the Supreme Court as soon as possible, and Trump will have until December 20 to respond.
A Trump spokesperson said, “Deranged Jack Smith, the henchman of corrupt Joe Biden, is willing to try for a Hail Mary by racing to the Supreme Court and attempting to bypass the appellate process. 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.”
Smith’s supervision of the Department of Justice’s public integrity unit was mentioned in the statement. This unit was successful in convicting former Virginia Republican Governor Bob McDonnell of bribery and extortion in a gift case. Nevertheless, the conviction was later reversed by the Supreme Court in a 2016 8-0 ruling.
“The Supreme Court has not been kind to Deranged, including when the Court overturned him 8-0 in the McDonnell case, and handed down a rare unanimous rebuke,” the statement continued.
Following the denial of Trump’s claims of immunity by a district court judge last week, the former president’s legal team promptly filed an appeal, asking for a stay of the court proceedings.
Smith’s lawyers then claimed there was precedence from the early 1970s Nixon Watergate recordings case, and they requested the country’s highest court on Monday to consider the immunity question before a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., could make a decision.
“It is of imperative public importance that respondent’s claims of immunity be resolved by this Court and that respondent’s trial proceed as promptly as possible if his claim of immunity is rejected,” Smith’s team stated, acknowledging that this was a “extraordinary request” in a “extraordinary case.”
In case the Supreme Court declined to accelerate the case before an appellate ruling, the special counsel also filed a separate motion for expedited procedures with the D.C. federal appeals court.
Regarding Smith’s move, George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley stated in a series of posts on the X platform, “the only reason for this petition is to seek to guarantee a trial of Trump (and possible conviction) before the election.”
Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges, in which he is accused of unlawfully attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Trump and his allies have maintained that his questioning of the results is not illegal while adding that his speech on the day of the riot was protected by the First Amendment and that he never incited anyone to riot.