Former President Donald Trump‘s legal team made headlines last week by asking that Special Counsel Jack Smith be held in “contempt of court” for continuing to file pleadings related to the federal election subversion case against Trump.
Now Smith’s team has responded to the charge of contempt with a 3-page opposition that says in the opening paragraph: “The Government has not violated—and never intentionally would violate—an order of the Court.”
Despite a stay, or pause, in the case while an appeals court considers Trump’s claims of presidential immunity from prosecution, Smith and his team made filings in the case (“voluntary compliance”), with three basic understandings.
First, that “the court has held that there is a substantial public interest in the fair and prompt resolution of this case,” an interest best met, the Special Counsel asserts, by continuing timely filings as set by the Pretrial Order.
Second is the understanding that none of the prosecution’s filings during the stay require Trump’s response, nor do they move the trial forward, as they merely comply with existing court-ordered deadlines. The pause, the Special Counsel writes, “automatically stays any further proceedings that would move this case towards trial or impose additional burdens of litigation on Defendant.”
The government’s unpaused performance of its “continuing duty to disclose,” Smith asserts, does neither of these — it does not move the trial forward nor does it “impose burdens of litigation on Defendant” who is not required to answer any government pleading during the stay.
Third is that the court, though it had the opportunity, did not “forbid” the Special Counsel from pleading during the stay order, a fact Smith couples with the information that he told them it was coming: “The Government informed the Court and the defendant that, during the appeal’s pendency, the Government would voluntarily comply with the adjourned deadlines ‘[t]o help ensure that trial proceeds promptly if the Court’s order is affirmed.'”
Smith’s motion also contains a declaration that, as it stands now, the Government will continue to meet its deadlines and to file pleadings during the stay, despite the defendant’s objection.
The filing also informs Trump and the court — tucked into the final paragraph — that Smith’s team plans to deliver a late Valentine’s Day gift to Trump, telling the defendant expect Smith’s highly anticipated witness list on February 19, though the Special Counsel assures he will deliver the list without the “expectation of reciprocation.”
Smith’s final paragraph includes the following: “The Government intends to comply with its continuing discovery obligations and to voluntarily satisfy the remaining deadlines in the Pretrial Order, including by disclosing its witness list to the defendant on February 19—without any expectation of reciprocation by, or ‘additional burdens‘ on, the defendant.”
The list of Smith’s witnesses, closely guarded and unknown so far even to Trump and his inner circle, is sure to send reverberations through Washington and the nation upon its February release. It could be, depending on the names listed there, a devastating moment for the Trump defense.
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