Trump's latest argument is like Osama bin Laden claiming he wasn't guilty for 9/11: expert

A lead investigator of the Jan. 6 riots Wednesday likened one of Donald Trump's legal arguments to Osama bin Laden claiming he was not to blame for Sept. 11.

Tim Heaphy discussed on MSNBC Jack Smith's Wednesday filing seeking to ban Trump from raising "irrelevant" arguments in his federal election interference case, which the Jan. 6 House Select Committee's lead investigator said he's heard before.

"We have heard this attempt to shift blame," Heaphy said. "Our committee found it did not succeed."

Heaphy argued that just as U.S. intelligence failures did not absolve bin Laden of the terrorist attack in 2001, local law enforcement errors did not absolve Trump of the U.S. Capitol attack in 2021.

"There were failures of U.S. intelligence that perhaps should have been more acutely aware of the threat posed by Al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden, but that did not absolve Osama bin Laden," Heaphy said.

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"Very similarly here, sure, we found their were failures of law enforcement...none of that absolves the proximate cause of the attack on the Capitol, which was President Trump and his co-conspirators."

Heaphy said his investigators found evidence that the U.S. Capitol attacks were traced back to a single source, and that source was the former president.

"The only reason we had a riot at the Capitol was that was the final prong of a multi-step, intentional plan to disrupt a joint session and prevent the transfer of power," Heaphy said. "The context of what law enforcement did or didn't do in no way absolves the proximate cause."

Smith also criticized Trump’s argument in a court document filed Wednesday seeking to ban Trump from blaming others for the Jan. 6 riots, court records show.

"The defense has attempted to inject into this case partisan political attacks and irrelevant and prejudicial issues that have no place in a jury trial," the filing states.

"The court should not permit the defendant to turn the courtroom into a forum in which he propagates irrelevant disinformation.”

For his part, Trump has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges and accused Smith of leading a political witch hunt.

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