Lawyers of President Trump argue that his concerns about fraud in the 2020 election ‘were plausible and maintained in good faith.’
Lawyers for former President Donald Trump are asking a federal court in Washington to compel federal prosecutors to turn over evidence suggesting the existence of election fraud in the 2020 election, which they say will aid President Trump’s defense in the case.
President Trump’s lawyers argue in a pretrial motion (pdf) filed late Monday that the former president’s concerns related to fraud in the 2020 presidential election “were plausible and maintained in good faith,” citing numerous official investigations after the election that found alleged evidence of foreign influence in the election.
In a line of argument that experts say sheds light on President Trump’s defense strategy at trial, the lawyers state that President Trump in 2020 was “not obligated to credit” assessment by officials who said there was no evidence of election fraud, and that foreign actors may have sought to influence the election.
The motion is the latest legal volley in one of President Trump’s federal criminal cases, in which special counsel Jack Smith charges that President Trump ignored findings by officials that there was no widespread election fraud and launched an illegal plot to undo the election and block the peaceful transfer of power. Mr. Smith accused the former president of conspiring to defraud the United States, obstructing and conspiring to obstruct official proceedings, and conspiring to violate rights. President Trump has denied all wrongdoing in the case and alleged that the case is politically motivated.
Because the contention that President Trump “genuinely believed that the election was stolen” will be argued at trial, the former president’s lawyers argue in the motion, evidence that cast doubt on the integrity of the 2020 election would bolster President Trump’s argument that his conduct was absent of criminal intent. They argue that this evidence is exculpatory, or evidence favorable to the defense, which prosecutors must provide to the defendant under the legal precedent Brady v. Maryland.
“President Trump is entitled to all information supporting his position that his concerns regarding fraud during the 2020 election—rather than ‘knowingly false’ or criminal … were plausible and maintained in good faith,” the lawyers wrote.
By Gary Bai
