The special counsel wants a federal judge to prevent Trump from telling the jury he was targeted for political prosecution by Joe Biden.
Special counsel Jack Smith wants the court to limit what Donald Trump says in his testimony in his upcoming federal election interference trial.
In a Wednesday filing, Smith told the court it “should not permit the defendant to turn the courtroom into a forum in which he propagates irrelevant disinformation and should reject his attempt to inject politics into this proceeding.”
He asked U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the trial, to prevent Trump from telling the jury he was targeted for political prosecution by President Joe Biden. Smith argued that those accusations are not only irrelevant to jurors’ determination of Trump’s guilt or innocence but would be “prejudicial if presented to the jury.”
Smith has continued to make filings to the court as though the scheduled March 4 trial date will go on as scheduled. The start of the trial is in limbo as Trump’s immunity claim works its way through the courts. The former president is arguing that he should be protected from criminal prosecution under presidential immunity, an argument that has already been rejected by Chutkan.
