10 Bombshell Revelations About Donald Trump's 2020 Election Case From DOJ's Newly Unsealed Filing

On Wednesday, October 2, Judge Tanya Chutkan unsealed the 165-page motion filed by Special Counsel Jack Smith, which narrated and detailed ex-President Donald Trump's "private criminal conduct" in the 2020 election. Smith highlighted how Trump acted in his private capacity as a candidate — rather than in his official capacity as president — when he attempted to overturn his 2020 election loss.

"At its core, the defendant's scheme was a private one," prosecutors wrote. "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."

One of the most shocking revelations concerned Trump operatives' efforts to create chaos at a ballot processing center "in the immediate post-election period."

"For example, on November 4, P5 — a campaign employee, agent, and co-conspirator of the defendant — tried to sow confusion when the ongoing vote count at the TCF Center in Detroit, Michigan, looked unfavorable for the defendant," the prosecutors stated.

The document quoted P5, who told a colleague they should "find a reason it isn't" and "give me options to file litigation" after seeing a batch of votes favoring President Joe Biden. P5 later said, "Make them riot," which prosecutors noted resembled tactics used by campaign operatives and supporters at other vote tabulation centers.

In the 165-page motion, prosecutors said Trump "resorted to crimes to try to stay in office."

"With private co-conspirators, the defendant launched a series of increasingly desperate plans to overturn the legitimate election results in seven states that he had lost," the document added.

It continued, "The defendant also knew that he had only one last hope to prevent Biden's certification as President: the large and angry crowd standing in front of him. So for more than an hour, the defendant delivered a speech designed to inflame his supporters and motivate them to march to the Capitol."

According to the Department of Justice, Trump encouraged his supporters to prematurely declare victory, disregarding advice from his political advisers.

Prosecutors cited Trump and Mike Pence's conversations in which the running mates spoke about the former president's electoral defeat.

On November 7, 2020, Pence — who told the defendant that he saw no evidence of outcome–determinative fraud in the 2020 election — allegedly asked Trump to focus on reviving the Republican Party instead after trying to convince him to accept the result. Two days later, the former vice president informed Trump he could "recognize process is over."

"The content of the conversations at issue – the defendant and Pence's joint electoral fate and how to accept the election results – have no bearing on any function of the Executive Branch," said prosecutors.

The filing revealed Pence "tried to encourage" Trump "as a friend" in some of those private conversations, while he also persuaded The Apprentice star to run for reelection in 2024 in other exchanges.

Despite Pence's efforts, Trump disregarded him and eventually scolded his running mate.

Starting on November 9, 2020, then-Arizona Governor Doug Ducey began to repeatedly ask Trump for evidence of his election fraud claims. Smith said Trump declared they were "packaging up" the evidence, but he reportedly never did.

"Instead, later that evening and into the following morning, the defendant repeatedly publicly attacked P16 (as well as Georgia Governor P17) on Twitter, re-tweeting posts by others, such as 'Who needs Democrats when you have Republicans like P17 and P16.'; 'Watching the Arizona hearings and then watching Gov. P16 sign those papers, why bother voting for Republicans if what you get is P16 and P17.'; 'P17 'My state ran the most corrupt election in American history'. P16 'Hold my beer,'; and 'Why is P16 still pretending he's a member of the Republican Party after he just certified fraudulent election results in Arizona that disenfranchised millions of Republicans?'" the document read.

Mark Meadows, tagged as P21 in the filing, and a lawyer (P9) spoke about the defendant and his allies' made-up claims about non-citizen voters, saying that a campaign attorney "had verified that CC1 claim of more than 10,000 dead voters was false and that the actual number was around 12 and could not be outcome–determinative."

Three days before the 2020 election, Trump planned to declare victory despite being told that the vote would not be finalized immediately after casting it.

"That doesn't mean he's the winner, he's just going to say he's the winner," a private political adviser said, per the filing.

The unidentified adviser added, "Trump's going to take advantage of it. That's our strategy."

Prosecutors wrote in the filing that Trump spoke with Steve Bannon on January 5, 2021. Two hours later, the former White House chief strategist "predicted" in the episode of his "War Room" podcast that "all h--- is going to break loose" on January 6, 2021.

"At 2:24 p.m., Trump was alone in his dining room when he issued a Tweet attacking Pence and fueling the ongoing riot: 'Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!'" the prosecutors said.

Trump dropped the January 6, 2021 "incendiary tweet," which reportedly incited the rioters, as he criticized Pence for not having the courage to help him overturn the election. A day before the riot, the ex-POTUS met with the 48th vice president to pressure him not to certify the Electoral College votes — but Pence refused again.

To support the 2020 election subversion charges against Trump, the prosecutors decided to use the Hatch Act, which allows White House staffers to "wear two hats." With that, Trump does not have immunity even when his alleged wrongdoing occurred on White House grounds and in front of the staff.

"When the defendant's White House staff participated in political activity on his behalf as a candidate, they were not exercising their official authority or carrying out official responsibilities," prosecutors wrote.

They continued, "And when the President, acting as a candidate, engaged in Campaign-related activities with these officials or in their presence, he too was not engaging in official presidential conduct."