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Opinion: Jack Smith’s Herculean Battle Behind New Trump Indictment

5 7
28.08.2024

Special Counsel Jack Smith’s superseding indictment of former President Donald Trump in the Jan. 6 election interference case makes me wonder if Smith and his team feel like they are fighting the legendary multi-headed Hydra from Greek mythology.

Most prosecutors need only contend with the defendant and defense counsel but Smith’s team also seems to be up against judges and justices. In the Mar-a-Lago mishandling of documents case, they are appealing Judge Aileen Cannon’s dismissal of the charges against Trump on her novel–and baseless–theory that for some 150 years the Attorney General has been unconstitutionally appointing special counsel.

In the same spirit, the United States Supreme Court came up with a heretofore-never discovered-doctrine of presidential immunity to shield defendant Trump from substantial parts of Smith’s original indictment.

There had been much speculation about whether the Supreme Court’s decision would cause Smith to seek a kind of “mini-trial” to sort out what evidence would be admissible and what acts would be immunized under the high court’s ruling. Because the ruling drew hard lines of protection around “official” conduct, a hearing might be one way for trial court Judge Tanya Chutkan to........

© The Daily Beast


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