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 contempt2. Required to immediately withdraw their MIL and improper productions3. Forbidden from submittingany further filing or production absent the Court’s express permission while the Stay Order is in effect4. 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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