Despite losing a bid to strike from the indictment references to that day’s violence, defense attorneys have made clear their strategy involves distancing the former president from the horde of rioters, whom they describe as “independent actors at the Capitol.” At the same time, special counsel Jack Smith’s team has signaled it will make the case that Trump is responsible for the chaos that unfolded, and point to Trump’s continued support of the Jan. 6 defendants to help establish his criminal intent.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump has embraced the rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as patriots, vowed to pardon a large portion of them if he wins a second term and even collaborated on a song with a group of jailed defendants.
While Trump’s glorification of Jan. 6 defendants may boost him politically as he vies to retake the White House in 2024, his lawyers’ approach lays bare a concern that arguments linking him to the rioters could harm him in front of a jury.
Though Trump is not charged with inciting the riot, any success he hopes to have at trial may turn in part on his defense team’s ability to neutralize, or at least minimize, the ghoulish images of the violence that prosecutors cite as a natural extension of the former president’s repeated lies about a stolen election.
In separate civil cases seeking to hold Trump liable for the Capitol attack, his lawyers have argued he encouraged his supporters to peacefully protest the results of the election and never called for any violence.
“There is a robust public record of how rioters’ actions at the Capitol on January 6 were extraordinarily violent and destructive, including attacks on law enforcement officers with flag poles, tasers, bear spray, and stolen riot shields and batons,” Smith’s team wrote in a recent court filing.
“The charges in the indictment require proof that President Trump acted knowingly and corruptly to overturn the election results,” he said, adding that from the Smith’s team perspective, “the actions at the Capitol that day are relevant to his state of mind, his intent and motive,” he said.
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