Trump Asks to Lodge Oversized Filing After Jack Smith’s Lengthy Brief

(Left) Special Counsel Jack Smith in Washington on Aug. 1, 2023. (Right) Former President Donald Trump in New York City on May 31, 2024. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images, Alex Wong/Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump is seeking permission from a federal judge to lodge an oversized filing in his criminal case in Washington, after special prosecutor Jack Smith was allowed to file a 165-page brief.

Trump wants to file a 180-page motion in response to Smith’s brief, lawyers for the former president told U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Oct. 2.

The case centers on charges brought against Trump ahead of and during the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled over the summer that presidents are immune from prosecution for official acts, but not for unofficial acts, and remanded the case back to Chutkan.

Smith in his mammoth brief argued that while Trump was president at the time of the alleged crimes, the acts allegedly committed were not part of his job.

“Working with a team of private co-conspirators, the defendant acted as a candidate when he pursued multiple criminal means to disrupt, through fraud and deceit, the government function by which votes are collected and counted—a function in which the defendant, as president, had no official role,” the brief states.

Chutkan granted Smith permission to file a brief of up to 180 pages, finding that the case presents “uniquely ‘challenging’” aspects and that the oversized brief would “serve the efficient resolution of immunity issues in this case” at the earliest stage possible. The green light came over objections from Trump.

Lawyers for the former president said in the new motion that Chutkan should also let them go up to 180 pages in their response to give Trump “an equal opportunity to submit and address facts bearing on immunity, and to rebut the special counsel’s misleading submissions.”

Smith was also granted additional weeks to complete the drafting of his brief, and Trump’s lawyers want a five-week extension to the current deadline to lodge a response. The current deadline is Oct. 17, and the new deadline would be Nov. 21.

“In total, the requested extension would provide President Trump 8 weeks to file his response, which approximates the 6 weeks the court granted the special counsel (including a 3-week extension before the status conference, and an additional 3 weeks thereafter to finalize its brief and exhibits),” the lawyers wrote. “Additionally, the extension reflects: (1) the enormous size of the Special Counsel’s filing, which will take substantial time to review, consider, and respond to, and (2) the importance of the issues at stake.”

The lawyers noted that no trial had been scheduled and that an extension would not prejudice the parties.

During a hearing on the matter, Chutkan had said that Trump’s lawyers could file for permission to file a surreply. In the filing, the lawyers said they want permission to lodge the surreply and proposed a deadline of Dec. 19.