Attorneys for former President Donald Trump filed a motion on Jan. 4 to compel prosecutors to show cause for why U.S. special counsel Jack Smith’s office shouldn’t be held in contempt over continuing to litigate a case in which a judge had ordered a stay.
“The Stay Order is clear, straightforward, and unambiguous. All substantive proceedings in this court are halted. Despite this clarity, the prosecutors began violating the stay almost immediately,” the motion reads.
“The court cannot allow the prosecutors to continue to operate lawlessly, in defiance of well-established protocol and this court’s authority.”
They also ask that prosecutors show why they shouldn’t be sanctioned.
The motion names Mr. Smith, Molly Gaston, and Thomas Windom—attorneys who filed briefs in the federal criminal case against President Trump in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia during the stay.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan had paused all proceedings and deadlines in the case on Dec. 13, 2023.
Shortly afterward, the special counsel’s office served thousands of pages of discovery, prompting the defense to file a notice of the court order violation.
On Dec. 27, 2023, prosecutors filed another motion to exempt certain evidence and arguments by the defense.
That motion was filled with “partisan rhetoric,” the defense attorneys argue, including false claims of President Trump propagating “irrelevant disinformation.”
They claim the document “mirrors the Biden administration’s dishonest talking points” and pushes the false narrative that President Trump was responsible for the violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The partisan points “spread like wildfire” in the media, attorneys argued, citing headlines from several outlets that suggest President Trump would “sow disinformation” or spread “misinformation” during his trial.
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