Last night, Donald Trump’s legal team submitted three motions to dismiss his election interference case currently at the federal court in DC. An additional motion was filed to remove references to the events of January 6, 2021, from the indictment.
The first motion argues that Trump cannot be accused of conspiring to defraud the United States as there was no deceit or trickery involved. Rather, the argument goes, Trump was taking part in protected political advocacy. This argument curiously ignores the fact that Trump had previously urged officials like Mike Pence to violate their oaths of office and had initiated the creation of fake electors to disrupt the certification of electoral votes. To read the full details of this motion, you can view it at Court Listener here.
The second motion seeks to strike all allegations relating to the events of January 6, 2021, from the indictment. It argues that since the Special Counsel Jack Smith chose not to charge Trump with incitement, the latter is not entitled to mention anything that occurred on that day. You can read the full filing
here.
Trump’s third motion, to dismiss for selective and vindictive prosecution, argues for dismissal based on claims that President Biden had privately expressed to friends (not to Attorney General Merrick Garland) that Trump should be prosecuted. The full document is available here.
The final motion pushes for the dismissal of the indictment on constitutional grounds. Pivoting on a somewhat alternate interpretation of the Constitution, Trump argues that if a President has already been impeached and acquitted in the Senate, they cannot be tried or charged again by the Executive Branch. It’s an interpretation that certainly raises eyebrows among those more familiar with constitutional law.
All documents related to the United States v. Trump case can be found on Court Listener here.