Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andy McCarthy lashed out at Special Counsel Jack Smith’s latest indictment against former President Donald Trump in an appearance on Fox News Tuesday night.

A federal grand jury has handed down a third indictment against Trump consisting of four counts related to allegations of trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election. McCarthy said Smith would have had to “distort the statute” to make his case, and the issue should have been handled through his impeachment proceedings.

“It was as weak as it was foretold,” McCarthy told host Brett Byer. “We see a lot of deceptive behavior, but the problem I have with Jack Smith is that Congress has not enacted legislation that directly criminalizes the kind of behavior Smith is talking about. , all he has to do is distort the law in order to classify the act as a law … Currently the law on the books is ambiguous, and Congress otherwise criminalized it. not transformed.”

He also argued that it would be difficult to prove whether Trump deliberately lied about fraud in the 2020 election.

“[Smith] In an attempt to capture this act, these statues were lavishly elongated. Because this speaks for their failure to succeed in impeachment, which they left to the criminal justice system for what should have been a political impeachment process. continued Mr McCarthy.

Mr McCarthy said special counsel Jack Smith, who is overseeing the prosecution, filed the Jan. 6 Capitol riot as a way to “sell his case to the public,” despite charges unrelated to the riots. criticized. (Related: ‘Ensuring Accountability’: Jack Smith Statement on Trump’s Third Indictment)

“It was one of the most inflammatory presentations of high-profile cases I’ve ever seen,” McCarthy said of Smith’s statement on the indictment. “Anyone who heard it, or a normal person who reacted to it, would think Trump was accused of carrying out the Capitol riot. It wasn’t about the Capitol riots and the security guards who participated in the Capitol riots… Then we turned to his indictment and he was not indicted in the Capitol riots. yeah. “

“So if he had to use it to market his case to the public, I think that would give a very good idea of ​​how compelling his case is,” Smith said. continued Mr. “As far as timelines are concerned, if he is a good judge, it will be a very difficult trial to bring this case to court.”