
Prosecutors from the special counsel’s office on January 5 pushed back against a request by Donald Trump’s legal team that prosecutors should be held in contempt for submitting filings while the election interference case is on hold, calling the allegations made by the defense “baseless” and “false,” CNN reported.
The day before, Trump’s lawyers filed a motion accusing Special Counsel Jack Smith and his prosecuting team of operating “lawlessly” by filing exhibit lists to District Judge Tanya Chutkan and by turning over evidence in the case to Trump’s legal team while the case on was on hold.
Trump’s lawyers argued that the pause, which was issued by Judge Chutkan while the federal appeals court heard arguments on the question of presidential immunity, prevented the special counsel from submitting any filings.
They argued that the special counsel should be forced to explain why his office should not face “monetary sanctions” or contempt charges.
In responding to the filing the Trump team submitted while the case was on hold, prosecutors from the special counsel’s office wrote that Judge Chutkan had held that it was in the public interest that there was a “fair and prompt resolution of this case” which is why the prosecution intends to “comply with its continuing discovery obligations” and “voluntarily satisfy the remaining deadlines in the Pretrial Order.”
They explained that doing so would “position the parties and the Court” to resume the trial on schedule “if and when the mandate is returned.”
Prosecutors also vehemently rejected the defense’s claim that the special counsel’s office was using the pause in the case to “spread political propaganda,” calling the allegation “false.”
They asserted that the prosecution did not and would not “intentionally” violate “an order of the Court,” and said the defense’s “recycled allegations of partisanship and prosecutorial misconduct remain baseless.”
In disputing the Tream team’s complaint, prosecutors argued that they had informed the judge before the pause that they would continue meeting the scheduled deadlines, even if the deadlines were put on hold. They maintained that none of the filings submitted during the hold required a response from the defense and therefore “did not violate the stay order.”