Smith has charged Trump with four counts related to allegations that the former president attempted to remain in power after the 2020 election. Last month, Trump’s legal team submitted an appeal to the D.C. Circuit arguing that Trump has immunity from prosecution and cannot face charges for official acts performed while in office, or for conduct for which he was already prosecuted through the impeachment process. An order from Chutkan put the lower court case on hold and stayed “any further proceedings that would move this case towards trial or impose additional burdens of litigation” on Trump’s legal team. Chutkan also stated that her court had no jurisdiction over the case while the appeal proceedings remained ongoing. "If jurisdiction is returned to this court, it will—consistent with its duty to ensure both a speedy trial and fairness for all parties—consider at that time whether to retain or continue the dates of any still-future deadlines and proceedings, including the trial scheduled for March 4, 2024,” she wrote in the order. Since Chutkan’s order, Smith’s team has continued to file motions, which Trump attorneys Todd Blanche and John Lauro argue is a violation of the stay order. The legal team says in their court filing that Smith’s team is stacking their motions with “partisan rhetoric, including false claims” in order to skew public opinion against Trump, weaponizing “the stay to spread political propaganda, knowing that President Trump would not fully respond” because of the stay order. Prosecutors, the filing states, have effectively turned the “court’s docket into an arm of the Biden campaign” through these actions. “The prosecutors have cast these hallowed mandates aside to score cheap political points against President Trump on behalf of the Biden campaign,” Trump’s legal team states. “In so doing, the prosecutors have repeatedly and willfully disregarded the court’s explicit instructions. Such malignant conduct undermines the integrity of this proceeding and warrants severe sanction.” Trump’s attorneys want Smith held in contempt of court for violating the order, as well as to be required to withdraw their submissions and be prohibited from submitting any other filing or document without the court’s permission while the stay order is in effect. “The Court cannot allow the prosecutors to continue to operate lawlessly, in defiance of well-established protocol and this court’s authority,” they wrote.Attorneys representing former President Donald Trump are asking Judge Tanya Chutkan to hold Special Counsel Jack Smith in contempt of court for violating an order halting all proceedings while an appeal over the issue is presidential immunity moves forward.
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