Tag: Jack Smith

Categories
Crime Donald Trump

Jack Smith Has The Perfect Way To ‘Sidestep’ Judge Aileen Cannon If She Rules Against Him

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?

 

Categories
Crime Donald Trump Espionage Russia

Did Trump’s Motive For Stealing Classified Documents Involve Russia?

As he continues to investigate the matter of classified documents former president Donald Trump illegally removed from the White House and took with him to Mar-a-Lago when he left office, Special Counsel Jack Smith is focusing in on Russia as the motive for why the failed ex-president took thousands of secret files and stored them at his Palm Beach golf resort.

In what may wind up being the greatest irony of all, according to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Murray Waas, Special Counsel Smith and a grand jury he impaneled believe Trump’s obsession with Russia led him to steal the information.

As he left office, Waas has learned, Trump desperately tried to declassify thousands of pages of secret documents that detailed Russia’s efforts to help defeat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.

But Trump was stymied in his efforts to make the records public, leading the outgoing president to rage to aides that the documents would never see the light of day.

Now, sources close to Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation tell me that prosecutors have questioned at least three people about whether Trump’s frustrations may have been a motive in Trump taking thousands of pages of classified papers from the White House to Mar-A-Largo, in potential violation of federal law. One of those people was compelled to testify before a federal grand jury, the sources say.

The sources say that prosecutors appear to believe the episode may be central to determining Trump’s intent for his unauthorized removal from the White House of the papers.  Insight into the president’s frame of mind—his intent and motivation, are likely to be the foundational building blocks of any case that the special counsel considers seeking against Trump.

That has led Smith to take a close look at conversations between the White House counsel, the Justice Department, and then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in the last frantic hours of the Trump administration.

The sources familiar with some aspects of the special counsel’s investigation further disclosed to me that prosecutors sought information regarding the following issues:   the witnesses were asked about any conversations they personally had with then-president Trump or any of their White House colleagues about the Russia papers; they were asked about conversations between senior Justice Department officials and attorneys with the White House counsel’s office, including two former senior lawyers in the office, John Eisenberg and Pat Philbin, regarding Trump’s presidential order to declassify the Russia papers; and they also were asked about the circumstances surrounding a memo written by Trump’s then Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, the day following Trump’s declassification order, in which Meadows appeared to reverse course and related that the papers would not be released before the concerns of other agencies regarding the Privacy Act were fully assuaged.

“It was very clear from what they asked that their emphasis was on Trump and Meadows,” one person said.

Another former aide to Trump, Kash Patel, has publicly stated that he saw all of the records the disgraced ex-president wanted declassified, telling Breitbart:

 “It’s information that Trump felt spoke to matters regarding everything from Russiagate to the Ukraine impeachment fiasco to major national security matters of great public importance—anything the president felt [the public] had a right to know is in there and more.”

So it was Russia that allegedly helped elect Trump, Russia that led to his impeachment, and Russia that may wind up sending him to prison for the rest of his life if Smith’s investigation proves Russiagate was what Trump clung to even after he left the White House.

Right about now, Donald Trump is probably wishing he had never heard of Russia or his BFF, Vladimir Putin.

 

Categories
Crime Donald Trump Justice Department

Jack Smith’s Next Move May Be Seizing Millions Of Dollars From Trump

Much as investigators did during the Watergate scandal that wound up bringing down the presidency of Richard Nixon, it appears that Special Counsel Jack Smith is following the money trail and has his eye on a political action committee former president Donald Trump has been using to fund his legal defense.

According to a report from Betsy Woodroof Swan and Kyle Cheney of Politico, a grand jury empaneled by the special counsel met recently in a Washington, D.C. federal courthouse and has been looking closely at the Trump-aligned Save America PAC and other fundraising efforts the disgraced ex-president is using to pay for his 2024 bid for the White House and mounting legal bills.

In a closed-door interview on Monday with Bernard Kerik, investigators asked multiple questions about the Save America PAC’s enormous fundraising haul in the weeks between Election Day and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, according to Kerik’s lawyer, Tim Parlatore, who was present for the interview and shared details with POLITICO.

“It’s a laser focus from Election Day to Jan. 6,” Parlatore said.

The special counsel has long been thought to be scrutinizing whether Trump or his PAC violated federal laws by raising money off claims of voter fraud they knew were false. Last week’s indictment of Trump, on charges that he conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election, did not include any allegations of financial crime.

That led several legal experts to suggest that Smith may have his sights set on the hundreds of millions Save America PAC has collected since the 2020 election and be on the verge of seizing them as ill-gotten gains from a wire fraud scheme.

NBC News national security analyst Frank Figliuzzi noted on Twitter, “This isn’t over yet. When you raise millions based on a fraudulent claim, you’ve committed a crime. And, you just might have to give those millions back.”

Andrew Weissmann, who worked as general counsel for the FBI and is now an MSNBC legal analyst, suggested what to expect next from Smith and the Justice Department:

“Keep your eyes peeled for a criminal case about the Trump PAC and forfeiture allegations/seizures. Case wd [would] not need to go all the way up to Trump before Jack charges folks and seizes assets.”

Law professor Jennifer Taub was even more succinct: “Wire fraud? Delicious.”

How much money are we talking about that Trump might suddenly see disappear from the accounts that fund his campaign and pay his attorneys? According to NPR, as much as $250 million:

“The Trump campaign took $250 million in donations from supporters that it said would go to an election defense fund to pay for legal fees to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. But the fund was never actually created, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., one of the committee members, said … in the panel’s second public hearing.”

Follow the money and you find the crimes.

 

Categories
Crime Donald Trump Impeachment Justice Department WTF?!

Trump Claims Jack Smith ‘Can’t Bring A Case’ Because Senate Acquitted Him During Impeachment

According to failed one-term, twice-impeached and multiply indicted former president Donald Trump, Special Counsel Jack Smith “can’t bring a case” against him in federal court because he was already acquitted by the U.S. Senate during his impeachment trials in 2019 and 2021.

Clearly expecting to be indicted yet again by Smith for his role in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol and attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, disgraced ex-president went on his failing Truth Social site and made the following post:

“How can Deranged Jack Smith bring a case on January 6th., as ridiculous as it is anyway, when I have already won such a case, and been fully acquitted, in the U.S. Senate? In other words, I was Impeached on this, and WON!!! ELECTION INTERFERENCE & PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT, all rolled up as one. We are truly a Nation In Decline!”

Of course, anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of the U.S. Constitution knows that impeachment and criminal indictment are in no way connected.

Here are the basic differences between the two:

Indictment is a formal accusation that someone has committed a crime. It is typically issued by a grand jury and serves as the basis for a criminal trial. In other words, when someone is indicted, they are formally charged with a crime and must stand trial to prove their innocence.

Impeachment, on the other hand, is the process by which a government official is charged with misconduct or abuse of power. This can include charges of bribery, treason, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. Impeachment is a political process that is used to hold elected officials accountable for their actions while in office.

One is a legal process. The other is a political process.

It’s no surprise that Trump is confusing the two processes. After all, he’s easily the most ignorant person ever elected to the presidency.

 

Categories
Crime Donald Trump

Next Indictment From Jack Smith Will Include 30-45 Charges Against Trump: Report

Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith is preparing to file what’s known as a “superseding indictment” against failed former president Donald Trump in the coming weeks, and the filing could include up to 45 new charges against the ex-president, according to Andrew Feinberg of The Independent.

The new indictment would include even more serious charges than the ones Trump is already facing.

The team of federal prosecutors working under Special Counsel Jack Smith is currently prepared to add an “additional 30 to 45 charges” in addition to the 37-count indictment brought against Mr Trump on 8 June, either in a superseding indictment in the same Florida court or in a different federal judicial district. In either case, they would do so using evidence against the ex-president that has not yet been publicly acknowledged by the department, including other recordings prosecutors have obtained which reveal Mr Trump making incriminating statements.

Smith is also planning to bring charges against several of Trump’s attorneys, including those who helped him spread lies about the 2020 election being stolen, which would include Rudy Giuliani, who has met with Justice Department investigators about what role he played in attempts to overturn the last presidential election.

A source familiar with the matter has said Mr Smith’s office will “most definitely” bring some charges against Mr Giuliani for his work on Mr Trump’s behalf in the weeks between the November 2020 election and the 6 January 2021 attack on the Capitol.

In addition to the laundry list of federal charges Trump is facing, he is also expected to be indicted in Fulton County, Georgia by District Attorney Fani Willis, who is also looking into efforts by Trump and his surrogates to have him declared the winner despite the fact that President Joe Biden won in an electoral landslide.

That probe, which is being conducted by Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis, is expected to result in multiple indictments which could be unveiled as early as next month. Ms Willis, who last year oversaw a special purpose grand jury probe into efforts by Mr Trump and his allies to reverse his loss to Mr Biden in Georgia, is reportedly considering indictments against the ex-president, his former attorney, top Republican figures in the state, as well as Mr Trump’s final White House chief of staff, ex-North Carolina congressman Mark Meadows.

In his home state of New York, Trump has already been indicted for falsifying business records to hide hush money payments made to adult film Stormy Daniels. And his company, the Trump Organization, is also being put under the microscope by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is expected to use civil charges to dismantle the company and dissolve its assets.