Tag: Jack Smith

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Crime Donald Trump Elections

Former U.S. Attorney: Jack Smith Can Still Do Tremendous Damage To Trump Before The Election

Even though there’s almost zero chance that any of the federal criminal cases against convicted felon Donald Trump will go to trial before the election in November, Special Counsel Jack Smith can still do tremendous damage to the disgraced ex-president in the months leading up to balloting.

That’s the warning from former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade who appeared on MSNBC’s “The Weekend” this morning and told the hosts, “It is not just the defendant, it is the public that has a right to a speedy trial. I think the more progress he [Smith] could make before president-elect Donald Trump goes into office, the more he can do at the other end.”

“You do not have to go back to a grand jury to remove things from an indictment where they already found probable cause,” she continued. “So he can pare this down to just those acts that he believes are official acts and go for it. Certainly, it will be litigated but the public will have an opportunity to see what the unofficial acts were: Organizing false slates of electors, pressuring state officials to flip the outcome of the election, and exploiting the chaos at the Capitol on January 6 to try to press legislators to delay the certification.”

McQuade added, “All of that, I think, is entitled to a public hearing. Of course, also the documents case out of Florida. Judge Aileen Cannon has made no effort to act with urgency. — no reason that case can’t proceed all the way through January to see how much progress they make.”

Every new detail Smith exposes in the months before Americans go to the polls could prove damaging to Trump’s already shaky prospects of winning a second term as president. And in an election that’s already expected to be close, those details could be a giant albatross for him.

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Crime Donald Trump January 6

Jack Smith Has Obtained ‘Powerful’ New Evidence That Proves Trump’s Intent On Jan. 6

New recordings obtained by Special Counsel Jack Smith regarding efforts by the Trump administration to block certification of the 2020 election provide powerful new evidence that prove failed former president Donald Trump’s intent to commit criminal acts, according to legal experts.

The recordings, which were first made public by CNN this week, suggest that Trump and those allied with him flew fake elector ballots to Washington D.C. so they could replace the real ballots with ones that would be favorable to the disgraced ex-president.

Two days before the January 6 insurrection, the Trump campaign’s plan to use fake electors to block President-elect Joe Biden from taking office faced a potentially crippling hiccup: The fake elector certificates from two critical battleground states were stuck in the mail.

So, Trump campaign operatives scrambled to fly copies of the phony certificates from Michigan and Wisconsin to the nation’s capital, relying on a haphazard chain of couriers, as well as help from two Republicans in Congress, to try to get the documents to then-Vice President Mike Pence while he presided over the Electoral College certification.

The operatives even considered chartering a jet to ensure the files reached Washington, DC, in time for the January 6, 2021, proceeding, according to emails and recordings obtained by CNN.

The recordings are of Trump-aligned lawyer Kenneth Chesebro, who devised the fake elector scheme and is now cooperating with prosecutors.

Former federal prosecutor Elliot Williams had this to say about the recordings:

“It’s one thing for a jury to read a transcript or even hear someone talk about things they heard somebody else say, it is another thing to hear voices to have sort of an evocative effect, that is more valuable and powerful.”

The tapes, Williams continued, “could be introduced as evidence showing the state mind of not just of the former president, or people around him who knew what they were doing and attempting to take all efforts to get these fake or alternate — their argument is — ballots to Washington, D.C.., it can speak to intent.”

CNN legal analyst Norm Eisen concurred with Williams.

“And the reason those details about the elaborate plan to get all the materials to Washington for Jan. 6 matters so much is they go directly to the intent here.”

He added, “This wasn’t just, as it started out, a preventive measure in case Trump won court cases,” Eisen said. “This was an active alleged conspiracy to have Mike Pence and Congress block the rightful winner of the election from taking office, and Jack Smith has said that that is a criminal conspiracy. And it’s hard to understand how lawyers and other professionals couldn’t see why that was wrong.”

With each day, new and damning evidence comes to light that will help the special counsel make the case against Trump, who is reportedly terrified that he will indeed be found guilty and spend the rest of his life in prison.

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Crime Donald Trump

Jack Smith’s Latest Move Could Expose Trump To A ‘Perjury-Fest’: Legal Expert

On Wednesday, Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith filed a motion with the federal court in Washington, D.C. that could put failed former president Donald Trump in the position of having to abandon one of his main defenses or expose him to a “perjury-fest,” according to former federal prosecutor Harry Litman.

Smith’s motion seeks to block Trump or his legal team from using conspiracy theories to minimize the ex-president’s legal exposure. But it has a much larger impact, Litman noted on Twitter.

“This argument is in contrast to the balance of the motion, which is trying to keep Trump from introducing irrelevant testimony, such as the claim that the prosecution is just a political attacked by the deep state. Even if that were true.”

In other words, Smith has covered every base and is closing the net around Trump. He knows how the former president is fond of lying, but if Trump does that under oath, he’ll seal his own fate. And if he tries to use other bogus defenses, the special counsel also has those avenues covered, too.

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Congress Crime Donald Trump GOP January 6

Wednesday Court Filing Hints Jack Smith Has Incriminating Testimony From Members Of Congress

A court filing made today by Special Counsel Jack Smith suggests that he has evidentiary testimony from members of Congress who can corroborate the role failed former president Donald Trump played in efforts to overturn the 2020 election and organize the January 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection.

Specifically, Smith is requesting that when witnesses are cross-examined at Trump’s upcoming federal trial in Washington, D.C., the ex-president’s attorneys should be barred from asking questions that might breach either attorney-client privilege or the Speech and Debate clause, which applies specifically to members of the U.S. House and Senate.

MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin laid out exactly what Smith’s latest filing means in a series of tweets.

It’s safe to say that if indeed Smith has testimony from Republicans who had intimate knowledge of Trump’s role in what transpired in the last days of the previous administration, Donnie is beyond screwed.

 

Categories
Crime Donald Trump

Jack Smith Now Has The Sort Of Evidence Against Trump That Juries ‘Eat Up’: Legal Expert

A recording of failed former president Donald Trump and Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel is exactly the sort of evidence that juries “eat up” and will be a major part of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s case against Trump for trying to overturn the 2020 election, according to MSNBC legal analyst Danny Cevallos.

Cevallos was asked about the tape, which came to light last week, by MSNBC host Jonathan Lemire and he noted, “There was a lot of talk this last week about, well, could this expose him to liability in a Michigan court? Maybe. But far more interesting to me, having defended federal criminal cases, I can tell you federal court is not a fun place to be for a criminal defense attorney because the government is very good at what they do.”

“If I’m the government I’m thinking they’re looking at this Michigan evidence as what we call 404-B, but all it is is prior bad act evidence that sometimes under certain circumstances can come into a prosecution,” he continued.

“So if I’m Jack Smith, maybe you look at that Michigan evidence or any evidence from any other state and bring that in as evidence in your D.C. court case and say, ‘Look, this is what he was doing elsewhere, this was not a mistake. This is his modus operandi. This all should come in,’ and it can be devastating evidence,” he added. “I can tell you personally that bad act evidence that somebody did something else bad somewhere else is devastating and juries — they eat it up.”

Trump can try and deny that he played an active role in the plot to steal the last presidential election, but his own words and actions condemn him beyond a reasonable doubt.

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