Donald Trump will try to use “frivolous” appeals to delay his election-fraud case, prosecutor Jack Smith has said.
In a court filing on Tuesday, Smith told Judge Tanya Chutkan that the former president is trying to delay the case as much as possible and is seeking documents he has already had for more than a year.
Smith added that Trump is only seeking more documents for his claim of presidential immunity so that he can delay the prosecution.
Newsweek emailed the Trump campaign team for comment on Wednesday.
“The defendant may attempt to use any interim denial of his deficient immunity-related discovery demands as the basis for a frivolous interlocutory appeal,” Smith wrote.
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Tuesday’s filing was a response to Trump’s request for more discovery documents so that the Republican nominee can prove that he has presidential immunity from much of the case.
Trump is accused of conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights in connection with an alleged pressure campaign on state officials to reverse the 2020 election results.
Trump has denied all charges against him and repeatedly said he is the victim of a political witch hunt. He has accused Smith of attempting to interfere in the 2024 presidential election by prosecuting him.
In his reply, Smith expressed his frustration that Trump is looking for documents that he already has, including his own presidential diaries.
“He asks for multiple categories of information that he has had for more than a year, including reports and transcripts for two interviews of a particular witness; text messages for specific individuals and Presidential Daily Diaries (PDDs)—all of which he received in the Government’s first discovery production on August 11, 2023, as is evident from the Government’s detailed Source Logs,” Smith wrote.
He added that the Trump team’s request for the diaries is particularly futile, as they are the former president’s own documents.
“The defendant’s request for PDDs is particularly notable because they are the defendant’s own records, to which he has access even outside the criminal discovery process and which the Government received only after the defendant’s designated representatives reviewed them in October 2022,” Smith wrote.
He cited federal law, which states that “Presidential records of a former President shall be available to such former President or the former President’s designated representative.”
However, Smith noted that the prosecution “stands ready, as always, to assist the defendant in locating all relevant materials already in his possession.”
“With the exception of a handful of publicly available sources, the Government long ago produced this material to the defendant in discovery, even though much of it was arguably not discoverable,” Smith added.
