(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Lawyers for former Presidents Donald Trump are seeking copious amounts of records from the Justice Department—including evidence of foreign election interference, undercover law enforcement activity on Jan. 6 and illegal spying on Capitol Hill protestors—as discovery in the ongoing election-interference criminal case.
Trump’s lawyers revealed their sweeping discovery request in a motion last week to dismiss the DOJ’s election-interference case against him. According to the defense attorneys, the discovery evidence would underpin their motion to dismiss the charges on the grounds that Special Counsel Jack Smith is engaging in selective and vindictive prosecution against Trump.
The discovery request was made in an Oct. 23 email from Trump attorneys John Lauro and Todd Blanche to DOJ prosecutors Molly Gasten and Tom Windom.
“Please provide all documents regarding informants, cooperators, undercover agents, representatives, or anyone acting in a similar capacity on behalf of or at the behest of the Department of Justice or any law enforcement agency (including state or District of Columbia) who was present at or within five miles of the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021,” the email stated.
The email also requested all FBI internal investigative reports related to Jan. 6, as well as the identity of all Capitol Police Officers at the Capitol on Jan. 6. The Jan. 6-related discovery request further includes records related to the FBI’s illegal FISA surveillance of Capitol protestors.
In addition, the email requested all documents relating to investigations into foreign interference of the 2020 election—including any DOJ investigations into Dominion Voting Systems.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan has yet to rule on whether Trump will receive a hearing into his selective-prosecution motion.
The discovery email was disclosed about a month after it was alleged that former Trump’s former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, was an FBI informant who wore a wire to spy on the President while he was in office.
The email was also disclosed about a month after Trump’s lawyers said that the former President intends to present classified information about foreign election interference in the 2016 and 2020 elections.
That late-October filing from Trump came in response to the Justice Department allegedly redacting much of the classified documents presented to Trump during the discovery process of his election interference case in Washington DC.
In a separate Jan. 6 case, defendant William Pope seeks all evidence related to undercover law enforcement activity at the Capitol.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
