The legal team representing former President Donald Trump is taking issue with special counsel Jack Smith’s office providing him evidence for his federal criminal trial for election interference in the latest spat over a potential delay of the March 4 trial date.
On Monday, prosecutors turned over an exhibit list and batch of evidence to the defense team. Prosecutor Tom Windom told the court the move will “help ensure that trial proceeds promptly if and when the mandate [putting the case back in the trial court] returns,” according to one filing.
But Trump’s legal team shot back late Monday in court and in a letter to Smith’s office, saying that the activity in the case “pose a significant and prohibited burden on President Trump.”
His lawyers said they will not review the material and threatened to seek an order from the court should the pre-trial efforts continue as the appeal over whether Trump is immune from prosecution is being litigated.
The back-and-forth is the latest eruption of the special counsel pushing forward to the trial, and Trump’s team taking any opportunities it can to delay.
The March trial date for Trump is still in place, but whether it will hold depends upon how quickly the Supreme Court, ultimately, determines questions of the immunity from criminal charges around the presidency, and if that applies to Trump’s actions after the 2020 election. In the coming weeks, the Supreme Court is considering a bid from the special counsel’s office to address the legal questions quickly, and the DC Circuit Court of Appeals is also hearing arguments in early January. While those appeals courts are at work, the case is on hold at the trial-court level.
“Although the prosecution may wish to rush this case to an early and unconstitutional trial in hopes of undermining President Trump’s commanding lead in the upcoming Presidential election, it must nonetheless abide by the Stay Order,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in a court filing. “As such, we will not accept or review the present production, or any additional productions.”
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