As the situation at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, deteriorated and security personnel had to bundle former Vice President Mike Pence out of the way of rampaging insurrectionists, former President Donald Trump allegedly gave a nonchalant "so what?" according to a bombshell court filing by Special Counsel Jack Smith released Wednesday by Judge Tanya Chutkan.
The 165-page document details the Jan. 6 attack by pro-Trump insurrectionists as well as the vain attempts by Pence, party and state leaders, campaign officials and some of Trump's own lawyers to warn him that continuing to spread false claims about a stolen election would be futile at best and disastrous at worst.
Prosecutors reconstructed interactions Trump had with his inner circle, including an episode where an aide rushed to the dining room to find Trump watching events of Jan. 6 unfold on TV while posting commentary on his phone. When the aide told Trump that security measures were being taken to protect Pence from the mob, "the defendant looked at him and said only, ‘So what?’” the filing alleges.
Trump appeared to score a big win this summer when the Supreme Court ruled that Trump was immune from prosecution for "official acts" as president. But prosecutors argue that Trump was acting as a private citizen when he conspired to overturn the 2020 election results, noting the president has “no official role in the process by which states appointed and ascertained their presidential electors.”
Within minutes of the document being unsealed, Trump stormed onto Truth Social with a multi-episode rant falsely alleging that it was the Democrats who were trying to rig the election by conspiring with Smith to hurt his standing with voters. Unlike corroborated stories in Smith's filing about Trump pressing governors and election officials to overturn unfavorable election results, there is no evidence of Democrats attempting any interference with the legal process.
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