The Justice Department Monday criticized former President Trump for ā€œattempts to sanitize his conductā€ leading up to the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, urging a judge to reject several motions to dismiss the case and disentangle Trump from the storming of the building.

The four filings, together more than 100 pages, respond to a series of pretrial motions filed by the Trump team last month asking the judge to toss the former presidentā€™s 2020 election case on a number of grounds, ranging from arguments the charges step on his First Amendment rights and that his speech simply amounted to raising concerns about the election to claims he is facing a ā€œvindictive prosecution.ā€

Prosecutors forcefully defended their indictment while accusing Trump of ā€œperpetrating an unprecedented campaign of deceit.ā€