Florida State Attorney Dave Aronberg suggested Monday that special counsel Jack Smith may be delaying former President Donald Trump's election interference case in order to hide his own strategy from the defense.
Smith recently asked for a delay in the Trump case to assess the impact of the Supreme Court's presidential immunity ruling, pushing back the trial schedule by several weeks and essentially postponing any action until September. Aronberg said on “Morning Joe” that Smith may want to block Trump's defense from seeing witnesses so the special counsel can “protect” them. (Related article: After presidential immunity ruling, Judge Chutkan faces long road to getting Trump case back on track)
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Florida attorney tells MSNBC Jack Smith may be delaying case to hide 'his cards' from Trump pic.twitter.com/kFk3UQC7s3
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 26, 2024
“Maybe Jack Smith doesn't want the defense to see his cards, he doesn't want the defense to see witnesses in preparation for an eventual trial if Trump doesn't win,” Aronberg said. “That could be one reason.”
Judge Tanya Chutkan agreed to Smith's request to reschedule the Aug. 16 hearing to Sept. 5 to allow the parties to file a schedule of pretrial proceedings on Aug. 30. According to Smith will comply with the court order and is unlikely to try to hold a mini-trial before the November election, two people familiar with the matter said. said The New York Times.
“He may also want to protect witnesses like Mike Pence from harassment and intimidation from the MAGA world, who will likely have to take the stand in this mini-trial,” Aronberg added. “He may also want to protect Trump from a Sixth Amendment violation in which Donald Trump would lose his right to a fair trial because Jack Smith tainted the jury. If that were to happen, the appeals court could throw out the entire case.”
Trump is charged with four felony counts of attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Judge Chutkan initially denied Trump's motion to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds of presidential immunity on December 1, but his appeal delayed the case for several months and canceled a trial originally scheduled for March.
“Some people are saying Jack Smith and Merrick Garland don't want to appear political. They're not doing this because the election is close. That's not a good reason to avoid this,” he continued. “Because whether you do it or not, you're going to be called political. The MAGA world will say you're weaponizing the Department of Justice. So, follow the evidence and the law and do it. The decision to do it or not should not be based on politics. If you choose not to make a decision, you've still made a choice.”
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