U.S. Attorney Jack Smith claims Trump "resorted to crimes" to try to maintain power in 2020

As part of Jack Smith's new case against Donald Trump for allegedly trying to reverse the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, the special prosecutor asserted that the Republican "resorted to crimes" to try to "cling" to power in the aforementioned elections.

As Smith wrote in a lengthy motion filed Wednesday, Trump was "increasingly desperate" after the election, so he "used deception to attack every stage of the electoral process."

"At its core, the defendant's scheme was a private one; he extensively used private actors and his Campaign infrastructure to attempt to overturn the election results and operated in a private capacity as a candidate for office" the special prosecutor wrote.

As reported from AP, the goal of Smith's filing is to convince the judge, Tanya Chutkan, that "the offenses charged in the indictment are private, rather than official, acts and can therefore remain part of the case as it moves forward."

The judge herself allowed partial publication of the document, even against the former president's lawyers.

"Although the defendant was the incumbent President during the charged conspiracies, his scheme was fundamentally a private one. When the defendant lost the 2020 presidential election, he resorted to crimes to try to stay in office," continues the brief filed by the special prosecutor's team.

Jack Smith's new indictment against Donald Trump

After seeing his first attempt thwarted, Smith drafted the new indictment, almost the same as the previous one, although it was limited to avoid clashing with the latest ruling of the Supreme Court, which ruled that the Republican enjoyed some presidential immunity.

The special prosecutor then amended the indictment to not involve Department of Justice officials or other government officials.

He kept almost all of the same charges as his previous version: conspiracy to "perjure, obstruct and nullify" the legitimate government function of certifying an election, conspiracy to obstruct and impede the Electoral College proceedings on Jan. 6, and conspiracy against the right to have one's vote counted.