Lawyers for former President Donald Trump exhorted a judge to dismiss the federal election interference case against him, arguing that the Justice Department is criminalizing "core political speech" protected by the First Amendment and selectively targeting him for prosecution.
Trump's legal team said the former president, like millions of other Americans, had every right to cast aspersions on the integrity of the 2020 election — even as senior members of his own administration repeatedly assured Trump that no widespread fraud had influenced the outcome of the race.
