According to Donald Trump’s lawyer, he had a “good faith” basis to be suspicious of the 2020 election outcome. They demand that prosecutors present any evidence of voting irregularities and potential foreign interference in the contest.
The defensive motion asserts that Donald Trump was under no obligation to accept the judgments of government officials. This is because they repeatedly found no evidence of widespread fraud in the previous election.
The document suggests that foreign actors might have been influencing the race. It also alleges that federal officials presented the public with “false assurances” as regards the security of the election. It says this “outpaced” what the government actually knew.
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Trump’s legal team wrote. “It was not unreasonable at the time, and certainly not criminal, for President Trump to disagree with officials now favored by the prosecution and to rely instead on the independent judgment that the American people elected him to use while leading the country.”
Many believe Trump’s team is trying to sow seeds of doubt within a jury in the legitimacy of the race. They hope to make the case that his suspicion was justified and not motivated by criminal intent.
The lawyers want special counsel Jack Smith’s team to present information that could help their case. This includes the “impact of foreign influence,” “actual and attempted compromises of election infrastructure,” and evidence of potential “political bias.” All of which could have influenced the assessment of the election.
So far, no court has found evidence of fraud. The Homeland Security Department’s cybersecurity arm claims the election was “the most secure in American history.”
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Smith’s team alleges that Trump ignored all of that. Going ahead with a plot to disqualify the election and hamper the peaceful power transfer.
However, Trump’s lawyers assert in their filing that he was justified in questioning the results. Citing quotes from a January 7, 2021 memo from John Ratcliffe, the then-director of national intelligence, that revealed China’s plans to influence the election.
It also seeks information from prosecutors about a Russian cyberespionage campaign in 2019 and 2020. Numerous federal government agencies felt the impact. The lawyers believe the intrusion calls into question the confidence officials were expressing at that time in the security of the election.
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They wrote: “The Office cannot blame President Trump for public discord and distrust of the 2020 election results while refusing to turn over evidence that foreign actors stoked the same flames that the Office identifies as inculpatory in the indictment.”
They also said: “The Office cannot rely on selected guidance and judgments by officials it favors from the Intelligence Community and law enforcement while ignoring evidence of political bias in those officials’ decision-making as well as cyberattacks and other interference, both actual and attempted, that targeted critical infrastructure and election facilities before, during, and after the 2020 election.”
The Trump lawyers ultimately asked U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to dismiss the indictment. They say he is shielded from prosecution by presidential immunity and argue that the charges violate his First Amendment rights. The requests are yet to be granted.
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