Special counsel decries 'baseless' Trump bid to hold him in contempt

Trump's legal team, this week, had asked U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan this week to hold Smith in contempt over his activities.

By Ben Whedon

Published: January 5, 2024 10:14pm

Special counsel Jack Smith on Friday decried former President Donald Trump's request that a judge hold him in contempt as "baseless," insisting he had not violated a court-ordered pause on proceedings in his D.C. case against Trump.

Trump's legal team, this week, asked U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan this week to hold Smith in contempt over his activities, asserting that "[t]he prosecutors repeatedly engaged in that exact conduct, disobeying the Stay Order at least three times in just two weeks... The prosecutors have no justification for their misconduct."

"The Court has held that there is a substantial public interest in the fair and prompt resolution of this case" Smith retorted on Friday. "That is why the Government intends to comply with its continuing discovery obligations and to voluntarily satisfy the remaining deadlines in the Pretrial Order," CNN reported.

Trump faces four charges in the D.C. case related to his challenges of the 2020 election results, including conspiracy to defraud, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of, and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights. He pleaded not guilty in August of last year.

Chutkan ordered the pause in December after Trump appealed her rejection of his presidential immunity claims to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Smith unsuccessfully petitioned the Supreme Court to intercede and rule on the matter ahead of the appellate court. He has further asked that Chutkan not permit Trump to introduce evidence related to security failures at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The court order "stays any further proceedings that would move this case towards trial or impose additional burdens of litigation on Defendant."

"Nothing here requires any action by the defendant, and he fails to explain how the mere receipt of discovery materials that he is not obligated to review, or the early filing of Government pleadings to which he does not yet need to respond, possibly burdens him," Smith insisted on Friday.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.