Jack Smith immunity determinations motion and brief

 

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA UNITED STATES OF AMERICA V. DONALD J. TRUMP, Defendant. * * * CRIMINAL NO. 23-cr-257 (TSC

Case 1:23-cr-00257-TSC Document 252 Filed 10/02/24 Page 1 of 165)

 * * * * * GOVERNMENT'S MOTION FOR IMMUNITY DETERMINATIONS 

The defendant asserts that he is immune from prosecution for his criminal scheme to overturn the 2020 presidential election because, he claims, it entailed official conduct. Not so. Although the defendant was the incumbent President during the charged conspiracies, his scheme was fundamentally a private one. Working with a team of private co-conspirators, the defendant acted as a candidate when he pursued multiple criminal means to disrupt, through fraud and deceit, the government function by which votes are collected and counted a function in which the defendant, as President, had no official role. In Trump v. United States, 144 S. Ct. 2312 (2024), the Supreme Court held that presidents are immune from prosecution for certain official conduct? including the defendant's use of the Justice Department in furtherance of his scheme, as was alleged in the original indictment— and remanded to this Court to determine whether the remaining allegations against the defendant are immunized. The answer to that question is no. This motion provides a comprehensive account of the defendant's private criminal conduct; sets forth the legal framework created by Trump for resolving immunity claims; applies that framework to establish that none ofthe defendant's charged conduct is immunized because it either was unofficialor any presumptive immunity is rebutted; and requests the relief the Government seeks, which is, at bottom, this: that the Court determine that the defendant must stand trial for his private crimes as would any other citizen. Case 1:23-cr-00257-TSC Document 252 Filed 10/02/24 Page 2 of 165 This motion provides the framework for conducting the “necessarily factbound” immunity analysis required by the Supreme Court's remand order. Trump, 144 S. Ct. at 2340. It proceeds in fourparts. Section I provides a detailed statement ofthe case th