The bombshell immunity request details Trump's alleged “increasingly desperate” attempt to overturn the 2020 election

Special counsel Jack Smith laid out new details Wednesday about the sweeping and “increasingly desperate” efforts of former President Donald Trump and his allies in a sensational court filing aimed at defending Smith's prosecution of Trump after the Supreme Court granted him immunity in July , to make up for his election defeat in 2020.

Trump intentionally lied to the public, state election officials and his own vice president to stay in power after the election loss, while privately calling some of the election fraud claims “crazy,” prosecutors alleged in the 165-page filing .

“When the defendant lost the 2020 presidential election, he resorted to crime to remain in office,” the filing states. “With private co-conspirators, the defendant embarked on a series of increasingly desperate schemes to overturn the legitimate election results in seven states that he lost.”

When Trump's attempt to overturn the election through lawsuits and voter fraud failed to change the outcome of the election, prosecutors allege that the former president fomented the violence, casting Trump as directly responsible for “the powder keg he opened on January 6th.” “intentionally ignited”.

“The defendant also knew that he had only one last hope of preventing Biden’s recognition as president: the large and angry crowd that stood before him. So for more than an hour, the defendant gave a speech designed to incite and motivate his supporters to march on the Capitol,” Smith wrote.

The voluminous filing – which includes an 80-page summary of evidence collected by investigators – describes several instances in which Trump allegedly heard from advisers who refuted his allegations but still continued to promote his claims of outcome-determining election fraud, according to the Public Prosecutor's Office.

“It doesn’t matter whether you won or lost the election. You still have to fight like hell,” Trump allegedly told members of his family after the 2020 election, the filing says.

In a statement, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said the release of the files was an attempt to disrupt the upcoming election following Tuesday's vice presidential debate.

“This entire case is a partisan, unconstitutional witch hunt that should be dismissed outright,” Cheung said.

In her order allowing the redacted file to be released, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who has overseen the case, addressed defense allegations of partisan bias.

“Defendant’s notice of objection repeatedly accuses the government of partisan bias in bad faith,” the judge wrote. “These allegations, which the defendant does not support, continue a pattern in which defense submissions focus on political rhetoric rather than addressing the legal issues at hand.”

“Not only is this focus unresponsive and unhelpful to the court, it is also inconsistent with an experienced defense attorney and undermines the judicial process in this case,” Judge Chutkan wrote. “Future filings should focus on the issues before the court.”

Prosecutors say Trump “laid the groundwork for his crimes long before” Election Day 2020, including by sowing doubt among his supporters and planning to immediately declare victory despite multiple advisers telling him the results would probably not be finalized on election day.

Prosecutors allege that Trump and his allies “attempted to cause chaos” at polling places – including one instance when a campaign staffer encouraged a colleague to “riot” them during an ongoing vote count in Detroit – which the former president later did did support his claims of election fraud.

“The common thread of these efforts was deception: the defendant and his co-conspirators’ knowingly false claims of election fraud,” the filing states.

In addition to the instances in which Trump was directly corrected on his allegations of voter fraud, the filing said Trump privately called the voter fraud allegations made by his lawyer Sidney Powell “crazy” — even though he made similar arguments to cast doubt to sow the legitimacy of the election, prosecutors allege.

Trump pleaded not guilty last year to charges of perpetrating a “criminal plot” to overturn the results of the 2020 election in order to remain in power. Wednesday's filing comes at a crucial time in the case, as Judge Chutkan will begin considering whether any of the allegations contained in the government's case are protected by presidential immunity after the Supreme Court ruled in a blockbuster decision that Trump is entitled to immunity from criminal prosecution for official actions taken in office.

In August, Smith filed a slimmed-down indictment that eliminated allegations that were likely viewed as official acts – including Trump's interactions with Justice Department officials to interfere in the election – while still charging the former president with the same four felonies that he had originally committed faced. Last week, Smith filed a sealed brief justifying the superseding indictment and then sought to submit a redacted version for publication.

Trump's lawyers rejected the lengthy filing Wednesday – which they called “tantamount to a premature and inappropriate special counsel report” – arguing that making the allegations public would improperly influence the election and violate Justice Department guidelines. Judge Chutkan — who has long said the election plays no role in her decision-making — ordered the filing made public on Wednesday.

In support of his lawsuit against Trump, Smith claimed that Trump acted as a seeker of office rather than as a public official in committing crimes and that he “must stand trial for his private crimes like any other citizen.”

“Although defendant was the sitting president during the charged conspiracies, his scheme was essentially a private one,” Wednesday’s filing said.