Trump Wants Jack Smith Held in Contempt of Court in DC Criminal Case
“All substantive proceedings in this Court are halted. Despite this clarity, the prosecutors began violating the Stay almost immediately.”
President Donald Trump and his lawyers have asked U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who presides over his Jan 6. case, to hold Special Counsel Jack Smith and his team in contempt of court.
Trump claimed Smith continues to violate the stay order from Chutkan as courts determine if the former president has immunity.
On December 13, Chutkan ordered a stay of proceedings that would move the case forward until the courts above her decide if Trump has immunity.
“The Stay Order is clear, straightforward, and unambiguous,” wrote Trump’s lawyers. “All substantive proceedings in this Court are halted. Despite this clarity, the prosecutors began violating the Stay almost immediately.”
Smith “served thousands of pages of additional discovery, together with a purported draft exhibit list,” five days after Chutkan issued the stay.
Smith filed a motion in limine (MIL), which addresses “potentially prejudicial, irrelevant, or inadmissible information that could unduly influence a jury or hinder the fair administration of justice.”
The motion even asked Chutkan to exclude Trump’s January 6 evidence.
Trump’s team pointed out Smith filled the document with “partisan rhetoric” and “false claims.”
The entire MIL, which Smith knew would be released, would do exactly what he claims Trump would do without a gag order: influence a potential jury:
In this manner, the prosecutors seek to weaponize the Stay to spread political propaganda, knowing that President Trump would not fully respond because the Court relieved him of the burdens of litigation during the Stay. Worse, the prosecutors have announced their intention to continue this partisan-driven misconduct indefinitely, effectively converting this Court’s docket into an arm of the Biden Campaign.
The prosecutors tried to find a way to try Trump in absentia by claiming they could still “shoulder its burden.”
Trump’s lawyers reminded the court that Chutkan’s stay applies to both sides. It included “any further proceedings that would move this case towards trial or impose additional burdens of litigation on Defendant” and “deadlines and proceedings scheduled by its Pretrial Order.”
Chutkan placed only two limits on the stay: “(1) ‘the stayed deadlines and proceedings are “held in abeyance,” Motion at 1, rather than permanently vacated,’ and (2) ‘the court does not understand the required stay of further proceedings to divest it of jurisdiction to enforce the measures it has already imposed to safeguard the integrity of these Proceedings.'”
In other words, neither side can make any moves that would move the case forward.
Trump’s team asked Chutkan “to issue an order to show cause why the prosecutors should not be”:
1. Held in contempt
2. Required to immediately withdraw their MIL and improper productions
3. Forbidden from submittingany further filing or production absent the Court’s express permission while the Stay Order is in effect
4. Assessed monetary sanctions in the amount of President Trump’s reasonable attorneys’ fees and expenses incurred in responding to the prosecutors’ improper productions and filings, including in litigating this Motion (collectively, the “Required Sanctions”)
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Comments
He should be removed as special counsel because his appointment was unconstitutional. And the judge should be removed from the court for failing to recuse herself despite her on the record bias. She’s a disgrace to the judiciary.
I read a persuasive argument by AG Meese I think that made that very point. Why Trump’s lawyers have not brought it up is a mystery
Good point. Why the hell aren’t Trump’s lawyers doing this? He has raised hundreds of millions of dollars from his supporters to pay for his legal expenses, so why aren’t they doing this? Is the money going for something else, maybe?
Well, there’s supposed to be a stay on the entire proceeding and there are not supposed to be any motions put forward by either side. That is why Trump’s attorneys want Smith held in contempt of court, he’s disobeying the stay by putting forward motions while it’s in effect.
Yes, but why are they not going after Smith for being improperly appointed?
LOL, NeverTrump “JR” is concerned the Trump lawyers are spending my money on “something else”.
What a damn joke. First, JR supports every bit of Soviet style communist lawfare thrown at Donald Trump. Second, perhaps the Trump law team has done things NeverTrump JR is unaware of. Third, perhaps the Trump law team knows to challenge the appointment is a losing battle at this point in time given that every single thing he and his fellow neverTrump contingent does is illegal and unconstitutional.
I think they have brought both of these up, n got denied. The kangaroos will in the end reach their appointed conclusion. After that, issues like these become grounds to throw it out on appeal.
As I understand it, a trial is more or less about the merits, while appeal is about process.
Did they? Missed it but good for them that they did
Although that should be appealed as it is a SCOTUS ruling I would think going towards the power of the Executive Branch and the Constitution
Pretty sure it came up.
So much noise and flailing in the proceedings, plus the crack-the-whip type commentary, on the analysis, on the PR, on the statements, on the commentary…
Hey, wait a second.
If Jack Smith is in fact a private citizen and not a federal appointed servant of the people, then the classified documents he seized using his faux authority means he has broken the very laws he has accused President Trump of breaking.
A special prosecutor should be appointed for Jack Smith.
A hangman should be appointed.
There is no chance this judge will do anything about Jack Smith.
Although he seems to be doing everything in his power to force the Judge to remove him eh??
I believe the phrase is, “He is feeling his oats.”
He’s feeling the fix is in.
Smith is doing everything he claims Trump would do without a gag order. We all knew Trump wouldn’t receive a fair trial. Smith is doing everything he can to make sure it happens.
That’s just more ammunition for when Trump needs to appeal later
Nail that dirty cop!
The defense has no evidence to speak of — they need not prove anything. What the defense has is rebuttal evidence, so if the prosecution infers that Trump initiated the storming of the Capitol (or more accurately, the invitation to enter by the Capitol Police) then Trump can use any and all evidence to rebut that claim.
The Government is looking to deny Trump his basic right to confront witnesses against him.
In a sane world, Smith would have never been appointed but alas, our world is insane. This entire scenario is beyond a cheap novel’s theme. No one three years ago would have ever dreamed of what is going on now under Democrat control. Our Constitution has been burned and we are officially a third-world country that thinks it is still the land of the free. Every Dem in DC knows that Biden and his family are crooks guilty of treason or sedition yet they do everything in their power to distract or discredit any attempt to get at the truth. Our country should come first but with Dems, their party is always first. It is not hyperbole to say that this next election is the most important one since the birth of our nation!
And all thanks to people like “inspectorudy” that always shows up to try and harm Trump. An original neverTrumper as I showed years ago when he claimed to have originally supported Trump. He lied.
The republican party is as responsible for the current situation as the democrats. There is a tissue thin difference in outcome of which is in power. Watch what they do, not what they say. Results are what matter.
I used to work with attorneys who called themselves “asshole attorneys,” with pride. One of them explained to me that the ultimate reason for their behavior was lack of confidence: they did not know what was enough to win, so they were out to “kill the guy.” This meant knock-down, drag-out discovery battles in, of all things, commercial litigation.
It was harmful nonsense then, and it is harmful nonsense, now. Jack Smith is like those guys, except that, if he is candid with himself, he knows he’s got a losing case. He’s doing his best to poison the public opinion before he has to take the big L.
The laws for Marxists are what they say they are, nothing more nor less.
Sure Judge Chutkin will jump right on Smith and slap him down.
Kidding of course, wouldn’t doubt she knows exactly what Smith is doing
Heh. The Left is enraged that a trial is even necessary. “I feel that he’s an insurrectionist! QED!”
Hey, that’s literally what Colorado and Maine already did.
I like that Trump is going on the offensive. The next step is to find a Florida DA to file state charges against Jack Smith for false prosecution of a Florida citizen — using a DC grand jury instead of a Florida grand jury.
Before some lawyer corrects me, consider that the time for novel interpretation of state law is NOW. This interpretation would certainly be no less justified than the Trump case regarding inflation of personal worth on loan documents.
Now Jack Smith is warning that if Trump is re-elected, he could use the State of the Union address to incite his supporters to kill opposing politicians.
Is it standard behavior for prosecutors to publicly defame defendants they’re prosecuting?
For democrat stooges, yes.
Hmm, sounds very much like Biden’s Valley Forge speech today.
Monetary sanctions against government lawyers are meaningless. Government attorneys are not personally liable for sanctions so abusive behavior from them is to be expected, as they pay no personal price for it.