Tom Cotton calls Jack Smith evidence against Trump a ‘temper tantrum from a deranged fanatic’

Republican Senator Tom Cotton blasted Jack Smith’s latest filing in the federal election interference case against Donald Trump as a “temper tantrum from a deranged fanatic.”

The senator from Arkansas, speaking to NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, dismissed the special counsel’s detailed findings in a 165-page filing stuffed with new and expanded evidence against the former president.

“This is unverified, un-cross-examined hearsay from grand jury testimony, which usually isn’t revealed publicly for that reason,” Cotton said. “He went to court. He asked for special permission to file a brief that’s four times as long as a normal brief and to have it disclosed less than 30 days before the election. This is professional misconduct in all likelihood by Jack Smith and it should be investigated.”

Smith’s filing — the fullest picture yet of his criminal case against the former president’s attempts to subvert the 2020 election — argues that Trump “resorted to crimes to try to stay in office” and “launched a series of increasingly desperate plans to overturn the legitimate election results in seven states that he had lost.”

Trump is also accused of failing to stop a mob of his supporters from storming the Capitol on January 6 as a last resort to do what he failed to do in court and in Congress.

The special counsel’s filing follows the renewed attempt to prosecute Trump in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision that granted him some immunity from criminal prosecution from actions stemming from his official duties in office.

Smith argues that Trump is not immune from criminal charges because Trump and his alleged co-conspirators acted in their “private” roles, not as public servants. “Although the defendant was the incumbent