During an interview appearance on CNN on Sunday, Republican National Committee (RNC) co-chair Lara Trump called it a “ridiculous ploy” for federal prosecutors to file a 165-page brief of new evidence in former President Donald Trump’s federal election fraud case so close to Election Day.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is presiding over Trump’s federal election interference case, partly unsealed Department of Justice’s (DOJ) special counsel Jack Smith’s filing aimed at convincing Chutkan that the former president’s alleged offenses in the wake of the 2020 election are private, rather than official acts of office, and can therefore remain in his indictment.
Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, faces four felony counts in Smith’s case against him in Washington, D.C., after he allegedly tried to overturn President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory in the aftermath of his loss, which culminated in the U.S. Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges and claims the case is politically motivated.
One of the biggest bombshells against Trump revealed in Smith’s filing included details about a conversation the former president had with an unnamed White House aide, who on the day of the Capitol riot told Trump that the Secret Service and Capitol police had to move then-Vice Presidente Mike Pence into a secure location amid the insurrection.
Upon hearing that Pence could be in danger, Trump allegedly appeared apathetic to the news, and told the White House aide, “So what?”
During Sunday’s episode of CNN’s State of the Union, Lara, who is married to the former president’s son Eric Trump, was asked by host Dana Bash if she thought Trump’s reaction in that alleged moment was “appropriate,” to which the RNC co-chair responded, “Well, I think that this is a ridiculous ploy, of course, in 30 days to an election to try and dissuade people from voting for Donald Trump.”
Lara added: “You know, the January 6 situation has been amplified to a level that I don’t think is almost believable to so many people right now. The fact that this is coming to the forefront just speaks volumes about the fact that the Democrats probably don’t feel good about their candidate of Kamala Harris. This is not the main concern of the American people.”
Legal experts have called prosecutors’ evidence against Trump “pretty damning” ahead of November’s election. Other allegations revealed in Smith’s briefing include an incident in November 2020 when a Trump campaign staffer allegedly texted a Trump operative in Detroit while votes were still being tallied. The staffer reportedly texted, “Make them riot,” an apparent push to interrupt the vote count.
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Trump is also accused of telling his family members, including former first lady Melania Trump, his eldest daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, during a trip on the presidential helicopter Marine One that “it doesn’t matter if you won or lost the election. You still have to fight like hell.” The conversation was allegedly overheard by a White House staffer who is willing to testify.
Newsweek reached out to Smith’s office and Trump’s campaign via email Sunday for comment.
The former president has called Smith’s briefing a “hit job.” In a series of posts to his Truth Social account last week, he also called Smith “deranged” and accused the DOJ of attempting to help Vice President Kamala Harris’ election bid in November.
Trump has stood by his claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him due to widespread voter fraud, despite providing no evidence. Earlier this year, the former president said he would only accept the 2024 election results “if everything’s honest.”
“If it’s not, you have to fight for the right of the country,” he said during an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel back in May.
Lara Trump echoed on Sunday that the former president will “of course” accept the election’s results “if he feels that this is a free, fair and transparent election.”
Meanwhile, Trump’s federal election trial will not begin until after November’s election as pre-trial proceedings continue. On Thursday, Chutkan gave Trump until November 7 to file his response to Smith’s new filing.
The reason that Smith filed his 165-page brief in the first place goes back to a U.S. Supreme Court decision on July 1 that former presidents have immunity for official acts conducted while in office but not for unofficial acts. The case was brought to the high court in a push from Trump to have the case thrown out. Smith, meanwhile, updated Trump’s original indictment, and a grand jury reindicted the former president last month.
The superseding indictment removes some specific allegations against Trump, but the former president is still charged with the same four counts from the original indictment filed in August 2023: conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights.
