Donald Trump Files to Hold Jack Smith in Contempt of Court

Former President Donald Trump has filed to hold special counsel Jack Smith in contempt of court, contending that he violated the stay following Judge Tanya Chutkan’s ruling to pause the January 6 case.

The document reads:

President Donald J. Trump respectfully moves this Court for an order to show cause why prosecutors Jack Smith, Molly Gaston, and Thomas Windom (collectively, the “prosecutors”) should not be held in contempt for violating the Court’s order “stay[ing] any further proceedings that would move this case towards trial or impose additional burdens of litigation on Defendant.”

Trump’s lawyers argue that the Stay Order was “clear, straightforward, and unambiguous.”

“All substantive proceedings in this Court are halted,” they wrote. However, prosecutors violated the Stay Order, they said, “almost immediately,” providing examples:

First, within five days of the Court entering the Stay Order, the prosecutors served thousands of pages of additional discovery, together with a purported draft exhibit list. Through counsel, President Trump advised that he rejected the prosecutors’ unlawful productions, that their actions violated the Stay Order, and that he would seek relief if their malicious conduct continued. Ignoring this warning, the prosecutors filed an expansive motion in limine less than 10 days later.

This document teems with partisan rhetoric, including false claims that President Trump “propagates irrelevant disinformation” both “within the courtroom” and “outside of it.” Moreover, the MIL mirrors the Biden Administration’s dishonest talking points, asserting, again falsely, that President Trump was responsible for the events of January 6, 2021, when in truth he called for peaceful and patriotic assembly and protest. In this manner, the prosecutors seek to weaponize the Stay to spread political propaganda, knowing that President Trump would not fully respond because the Court relieved him of the burdens of litigation during the Stay. Worse, the prosecutors have announced their intention to continue this partisan-driven misconduct indefinitely, effectively converting this Court’s docket into an arm of the Biden Campaign.

To “remedy” what Trump’s lawyers described as the “outrageous conduct” of the prosecutors, they proposed the following:

[T]he Court should issue an order to show cause why the prosecutors should not be: (1) held in contempt; (2) required to immediately withdraw their MIL and improper productions; (3) forbidden from submitting any further filing or production absent the Court’s express permission while the Stay Order is in effect; and (4) assessed monetary sanctions in the amount of President Trump’s reasonable attorneys’ fees and expenses incurred in responding to the prosecutors’ improper productions and filings, including in litigating this Motion (collectively, the “Requested Sanctions”).

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung described the filing as a “powerhouse motion to hold Crooked Joe Biden’s henchman, Deranged Jack Smith, in contempt of Court for repeatedly violating the stay order in the Washington DC J6 Witch Hunt.”

“Smith was ordered to not take any further action in the trial court until the Presidential Immunity issue is resolved, which should be a full dismissal of this ‘case’ because President Trump was carrying out his duty as President to investigate the Rigged and Stolen 2020 Presidential Election,” Cheung stated, emphasizing that Smith “unilaterally decided to disobey the stay order and continue with his harassing litigation, all done in order to keep parroting the pathetic Biden Campaign’s corrupt talking points in the name of election interference.”

“As a result, President Trump is seeking to hold Deranged Jack in contempt of Court,” he said. “No prosecutor is above the law.”

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Matthew Perdie / Breitbart News, Jack Knudsen / Breitbart News

The filing comes nearly a month after Chutkan ruled to pause the case as Trump claims that he was covered by “presidential immunity” on January 6. At the time, Trump’s campaign described the decision as a “big win” for the former president, as well as the rule of law, effectively halting what Trump allies say are Smith’s attempts to interfere in the 2024 election.

Weeks ago, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Smith’s request for a speedy review, meaning the case will go through the normal process in the appeals court. This served as another blow to Smith, who is racing against the clock to put Trump on trial before the 2024 election.

The case is United States v. Trump, No. 23-3228, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.