Of all Trump’s vicious pledges and actions with respect to retribution directed at those opposing him, perhaps the single most dangerous roar is the current “manhunt” unleashed against former indpendent prosecutor Jack Smith. Should Trump go forward with charges in this matter, it would be one of the many final nails in the coffin of what was once a strong republic. We don’t prosecute political opponents or former prosecutors for simply doing their jobs in opposition. And yet Trump wants Smith prosecuted, the most aggressive revenge move yet. But Smith seems more than ready to take it all on.
The matter is made even worse by the fact that Smith, unlike others in the administration, was wholly independent as a prosecutor and worked outside of the direction of even the rather independent Garland DOJ, never mind President Biden. But it couldn’t matter less to Trump. Literally anyone who threatened him in any way is now subject to revenge, from Adam Schiff to former FBI Director Christopher Wray, to Merrick Garland himself. The fact that none actually committed a crime is a mere afterthought, baked in as Trump’s M.O. by Republicans in Congress who know damn well he seeks only revenge.
But Smith, even more than other targets, would come loaded and ready to use any prosecution as an outlet to bring his findings and make them public. He is not the least bit intimidated by all this. From a report in The New York Times:
“Smith also said that he had ‘tons of evidence’ that Mr. Trump had willingly retained the classified documents at his residence in Mar-a-Lago and tried ‘to obstruct the investigation.’”
Right.
In other words, the DOJ had better be careful prosecuting one of the best lawyers in the country, certainly better than the ones sitting opposite of him in court.
It was always clear to this lawyer that even though the crimes committed (alleged) during the whole attempt to overthrow the election were more damaging to the nation, as far as criminal exposure went, the case involving the classified special access files was always so clear, so obvious, so in your face, and certainly not involved in his actions as president, that it took an embarrsingly MAGA judge in Aileen Cannon, an inexperienced and highly political (And easily overturned by a conservative court of appeals circuit) to virtually set those cases aside in a purely political play.
Smith has the evidence and according to new reports, the case was even worse than we knew, with documents that would have exposed U.S. agents in foreign countries to punishment, even perhaps execution. One wonders if that was the reason to keep them in the first place. The files might have represented an asset. Awaiting sale to a motivated bidder (MBS of Saudi Arabia?). It has to be something, or Trump wouldn’t have gone so far out of his way to keep and hide those documents. After all, he had been asked over and over, then subpoenaed, over and over, chance after chance, to give them up and avoid criminal exposure.
And so we might well see those reports. Smith himself remains ready:
According to those in his “orbit,” Smith is looking forward to presenting the evidence against Trump from the two cases that were scuttled by the U.S. Supreme Court’s immunity ruling and that of a highly controversial federal judge’s decision.
That was the one in which the SCOTUS essentially ruled that damn near anything Trump did while president is protected, even attempting to overthrow the election. But that doesn’t mean that the case over the files provides any sactuary for him. It is all irrelevant when it comes to his criminal exposure, at least for now, but he could sure unleash some evidence the public hasn’t seen and some stuff that compels questions about whether those documents were for sale.
In the end, though, they better think long and hard about whether they want to bring a case in which the defendant is far and away a better attorney than anyone they line up. Smith truly was independent, having served as investigation coordinator for the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. They don’t give jobs like that away to “an average attorney,” which is why he was picked in the first place.
Yes, this administration is already out on the edge having Trump direct prosecutions (This is just breathless corruption, 15 years ago this sort of behavior was so unthinkable as to be almost automatic impeachment), if they bring this case, the evidence Smith will bring forth might be simply catastrophic to Trump.
No wonder Smith is not intimidated. The DOJ best be careful in hunting for really big game.
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I think it’s pretty clear that either Jack Smith or the cases themselves, scared the living daylights out of Donold. I seem to remember him calling Smith deranged and an “animal”.
It seems he may have a special animus towards Smith. I hope he does goes forward with an attempt at prosecution. Unfortunately, his advisors may talk him out of it.
I don’t think so — Drumpf gets what Drumpf WANTS from his toadies!!! Having his mindset, he’s absolutely sure he’ll be able to escape consequences for anything that goes sideways.
Trump wouldn’t have merely exposed American agents abroad to “punishment,” but to outright torture of the very worst kind and inevitable murder. That a former president should even consider such actions, let alone prepare for them by stealing relevant classified documents, is perhaps the most damning of all evidence on Trump’s moral bankruptcy and a stain upon the office which will never be erased.
If he lives through the next few years, you have to wonder what else he’s going to walk off with when he leaves, besides the billions of dollars he’s grifted already. He or his toadying replacement (Vance?).