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Former President Donald Trump's lawyers have filed a motion calling for Special Counsel Jack Smith to be held in contempt of court. Trump's lawyers claim that Smith and two of his top deputies violated a stay order in the election subversion case issued by Judge Tanya S. Chutkan.
The stay was issued while Trump's lawyers appealed the case, arguing that the former president has immunity from prosecution because the actions he took following his loss in the 2020 presidential election were under his official role as president.
The filing says that five days after the stay was issued, prosecutors "served thousands of pages of additional discovery, together with a purported draft exhibit list."
"The Stay Order is clear, straightforward, and unambiguous," Trump attorney John Lauro wrote in the filing. "All substantive proceedings in this Court are halted. Despite this clarity, the prosecutors began violating the Stay almost immediately."
Trump's lawyers want Smith to withdraw the filings he made after the stay was issued. They are also seeking monetary damages to cover some of Trump's legal costs.
"The Court cannot allow the prosecutors to continue to operate lawlessly, in defiance of well-established protocol and this Court's authority. The Requested Sanctions are appropriate and likely to deter any further transgressions, and if not, the Court retains the ability to impose more severe sanctions, including dismissal of this action," Trump's attorneys wrote.