Judge reveals new evidence about Trump's actions surrounding the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol: NPR

Special Counsel Jack Smith delivers remarks on the Trump case in Washington, DC in August 2023

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In a recently unsealed court filing, special counsel Jack Smith provided the most detailed picture yet of his criminal case against Donald Trump for allegedly attempting to overturn the 2020 election and why the former president is not immune from prosecution.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is presiding over the case, released the filing Wednesday with minor changes.

The special counsel is using the 165-page document to argue that Trump's actions related to the election occurred in a private capacity and not in his official role as president.

The filing comes after the Supreme Court ruled this summer that presidents enjoy broad immunity for official actions while in office, but not for unofficial actions as a candidate or private citizen.

“When the defendant lost the 2020 presidential election, he resorted to crime to remain in office,” the special counsel team wrote. “With private co-conspirators, the defendant launched a series of increasingly desperate schemes to overturn the legitimate election results in seven states that he lost.”

A DC grand jury indictment accused Trump of actions that culminated in the violent siege of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. If he wins back the White House, Trump is expected to order new Justice Department leaders to drop the landmark case.

Prosecutors accuse Trump of leading a conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 election and disenfranchise millions of American voters.

“At its core, the defendant’s plan was a private criminal operation,” the special prosecutor wrote. “In his capacity as a candidate, the defendant used deception to target every phase of the electoral process.”

The filing offers several new details about Trump's actions

The basic principles of the special counsel's allegations against Trump have long been known. However, the file contains some new details, including sensitive witness statements and notes from former Vice President Mike Pence.

It also offers some colorful details, mostly aimed at linking Trump to overlapping conspiracies aimed at overturning the 2020 election.

One section of the filing details what Trump did on January 6, 2021, when a violent mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. Trump, it is said, sat down in the Oval Office dining room around 1:30 p.m. and spent the afternoon reviewing Twitter on his cell phone while Fox News played in the background.

At one point, an aide stormed into the dining room to tell Trump that Pence had been moved to a safe location because of the rioters. The aide hoped, the filing says, that Trump would do something to ensure Pence's safety.

Instead, the document says, Trump “looked at him and just said, 'So what?'”

The new filing also offers a closer look at Trump's interactions with his former political adviser and podcaster Steve Bannon, including a phone conversation the two men had the morning before the Capitol riot, the new court filing says.

Just a few hours later, Bannon told his podcast audience that “all hell” would break loose the next day.

Lawyers for Trump and special counsel Jack Smith had argued over whether the brief should be made public given its potential impact on the 2024 election, in which Trump is the Republican nominee.

Ultimately, Chutkan agreed to release part of the government's new arguments against the former president, saying the public needs to understand the court's ultimate decision on immunity and therefore needs access to the government's arguments.