Donald Trump Fumes Over Evidence in Jack Smith Case

Donald Trump has claimed that former Wyoming Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney deleted evidence regarding the long debunked allegation that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi turned down his request to bring in the National Guard ahead of the January 6 attack.

In a post on Truth Social, the former president also lashed out at Special Counsel Jack Smith as the federal prosecutor attempts to dismiss Trump's move to cite absolute immunity to prevent federal prosecution over his alleged criminal attempts to remain in power after losing the 2020 election, as the allegations relate to the Republican's time in the White House.

Trump, the frontrunner in the GOP primary, has pleaded not guilty to four charges in Smith's federal probe and has long denied any wrongdoing with regards to the January 6 attack. Trump also accuses the investigation of being a politically motivated attempt to stop him winning the 2024 election.

For nearly three years, Trump and other GOP figures have tried to blame the riot at the Capitol on Pelosi by falsely suggesting she was in charge of security that day, or that she rejected an official request from Trump to bring in 10,000 National Guard troops on standby in case there was violence on January 6, 2021.

In a social media post on January 1, 2024, Trump repeated the claim that Pelosi rejected his request to bring in thousands of National Guard troops, as well as another disputed claim that Cheney, one of two Republicans who sat on the January 6 House Select Committee which investigated the events leading up to the Capitol riot, deleted evidence submitted to the inquiry.

"Why did American Disaster Liz Cheney, who suffers from TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome), and was defeated for Congress by the largest margin for a sitting Congressman or Congresswoman in the history of our Country, ILLEGALLY DELETE & DESTROY most of the evidence, and related items, from the January 6th Committee of Political Thugs and Misfits. THIS ACT OF EXTREME SABOTAGE MAKES IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR MY LAWYERS TO PROPERLY PREPARE FOR, AND PRESENT, A PROPER DEFENSE OF THEIR CLIENT, ME," Trump wrote.

"All of the information on Crazy Nancy Pelosi turning down 10,000 soldiers that I offered to to guard the Capitol Building, and beyond, is gone," Trump added. "The ridiculous Deranged Jack Smith case on Immunity, which the most respected legal minds in the Country say I am fully entitled to, is now completely compromised and should be thrown out and terminated, JUST LIKE THE RADICAL LEFT LUNATICS DID TO THE EVIDENCE!"

Cheney has been contacted for comment via email.

There is no evidence that any evidence from the January 6 House panel's investigation was destroyed or deleted.

There were previously concerns that some recordings were not archived or transferred to the Committee on House Administration after the panel was disbanded at the start of a new Congressional term in January 2023, as per House Rule VII. However, transcripts of the recording were submitted, which the panel said still qualified the evidence as official and permanent House records.

The Associated Press has previously described the suggestion that Pelosi prevented the National Guard from protecting the Capitol on January 6 as "false." The Washington Post's Fact Checking team has twice described the claim that Pelosi refused to deploy troops that day as "whoppers" and gave the claim the maximum four Pinocchios in its rating scale.

Trump is said to have discussed the idea of bringing in thousands National Guards troops to D.C. ahead of the protests supporting his false election fraud claims, but never formally made any arrangements.

In his testimony to the January 6 panel, former acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller said that he was not "given any direction or order or knew of any plans of that nature" to have the National Guard on standby ahead of January 6, despite what the former president was claiming.

In a previous statement disputing the idea she was in charge of protecting the Capitol that day, Drew Hammill, a spokesperson for Pelosi, told The Associated Press: "On January 6th, the Speaker, a target of an assassination attempt that day, was no more in charge of Capitol security than [then Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell was.

"This is a clear attempt to whitewash what happened on January 6th and divert blame."