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Special Counsel Jack Smith's team noted that Trump, the
frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination, in 2012 made
"baseless claims" that ballot machines switched votes to
Democratic incumbent Barack Obama from Republican challenger
Mitt Romney, and during his 2016 campaign claimed that a loss to
Democrat Hillary Clinton would be the result of fraud.
"The defendant's false claims about the 2012 and 2016 elections
are admissible because they demonstrate the defendant's common
plan of falsely blaming fraud for election results he does not
like, as well as his motive, intent and plan to obstruct the
certification of the 2020 election results and illegitimately
retain power," prosecutors argued in the filing.
The case in Washington federal court is one of four criminal
prosecutions facing Trump as he seeks to challenge Democratic
President Joe Biden in the 2024 election. Trump continues to
argue that his 2020 loss to Biden was the result of widespread
fraud, a false claim that was rejected by multiple courts, state
reviews and members of Trump's own administration.
Smith’s evidence also includes statements from Trump during the
2016 and 2020 campaigns in which he refused to commit to
accepting the elections' results.
Trump is scheduled to stand trial beginning in March on charges
that he interfered in the counting of votes and sought to block
Congress’ certification of the 2020 election. Prosecutors have
accused Trump of spreading “destabilizing lies” about widespread
voter fraud to sow distrust in the election.
Trump has pleaded not guilty and accused prosecutors of seeking
to damage his 2024 campaign.
A Trump spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request
for comment on Smith’s filing.
(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward; Editing by Scott Malone and Nick
Zieminski)
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