With some legal experts already worried that the appointment of U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon for the federal trial of former president Donald Trump could all but guarantee an acquittal of Trump, it now appears that Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith has thought ahead and has a backup plan.
In a column for The Atlantic, two noted legal experts, Ryan Goodman and Andrew Weissmann explain that Trump’s indictment also suggests he committed crimes in other locations, which gives Smith lots of options.
According to the Justice Department and a taped recording of the former president, Trump took classified records from Mar-a-Lago to Bedminster (New Jersey), where he showed off the contents of such records to others.
The two then elaborate on their thesis:
“The indictment alleges that Trump showed a map to a political ally and also showed a writer and a publisher a secret military plan to attack Iran. These two episodes were arguably the most egregious allegations of criminal wrongdoing mentioned in the indictment; they allege not just the improper retention of our nation’s most highly classified information, but the intentional communication of such information.”
That’s bad news for Trump, they allege, because New Jersey then becomes a viable option for more charges against the former president.
Trump’s Bedminster conduct, as described in the indictment, appears to fit the description of two federal offenses designed to keep America’s national-security secrets safe. One makes it a crime to intentionally communicate national-defense information to people not authorized to receive it, and the other makes it a crime to intentionally disclose classified information to the same.
These are more serious crimes than willful retention of such documents, which is done to prevent possible leakage. Deliberate dissemination is the leakage itself.
So if indeed Cannon short-circuits the case in Florida by refusing admit crucial evidence or by other methods, Smith can easily charge Trump in New Jersey.
The legal uncertainties that surround bringing charges in Florida for dissemination of national-security secrets in Bedminster leaves open the possibility that charges might yet be brought in New Jersey — a backup plan of sorts for Smith.
If Aileen Cannon, the Florida judge assigned to the case, were to seek to pocket-veto the charges before her by, say, scheduling the trial for after the 2024 presidential election, the special counsel would be able to sidestep her tactic by proceeding with charges in New Jersey.
Could it be any clearer that Jack Smith is playing three dimensional chess while Trump’s attorneys and others who might try to get in his way are still busy with checkers?
