Much of Donald Trump’s legal strategy in his federal 2020 election interference case has, so far, centered around trying to delay the start of his March trial until after the November presidential election.
But in recent court filings, and according to sources familiar with the Trump team’s approach, other defense strategies have emerged – namely of absolving Trump, the front-runner for the GOP nomination, of responsibility for the US Capitol attack and positioning him as a victim of disinformation and overzealous government investigators.
Two under-the-radar court filings from Trump’s team in late November offered the clearest glimpse yet into what the former president’s lawyers may try to argue before a jury in the historic case. The filings say that his lawyers hope during the trial to point to people in the federal government he suspects are biased toward him, to foreign influence, and to election disinformation that led him to believe the 2020 contest was stolen.
I like how they’re trying to blame incompetence, while he’s still running for president. I would love for a reporter to say, “Mr. Trump, you’re arguing in court that it’s not your fault for falsely believing you won the 2020 election, because you were tricked by misinformation put out by Russia and China. First, are you now confirming that you did indeed lose the election? And second, why should the people trust you not to be outsmarted by Russia and China again?”