Prosecutors: Trump 'resorted to crimes' after losing 2020 election in failed bid to cling to power

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump “resorted to crimes” after losing the 2020 election, federal prosecutors said in a court filing unsealed Wednesday that argues that the former president is not entitled to immunity from prosecution over his failed bid to remain in power.

The filing was submitted by special counsel Jack Smith's team following a Supreme Court opinion that conferred broad immunity on former presidents for official acts they take in office, narrowing the scope of the prosecution charging Trump with conspiring to overturn the results of the election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

The purpose of the brief is to convince U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan that the offenses charged in the indictment are private, rather than official, acts and can therefore remain part of the indictment as the case moves forward.

Those include efforts to persuade former Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to certify the counting of the electoral votes on the afternoon of Jan. 6, 2021.

“Although the defendant was the incumbent President during the charged conspiracies, his scheme was fundamentally a private one,” Smith's team said. “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.”

“When the defendant lost the 2020 presidential election, he resorted to crimes to try to stay in office,” the filing said.