Criminal law, Politics

Post: Jack Smith is Willing to Try Trump Up to Inauguration Day

The Washington Post is reporting that Special Counsel Jack Smith may try to convict former president Donald Trump all the way through the election and up to 11:59 am on January 20th. After the oath, the Justice Department has long maintained that it will not prosecute a sitting president.

There is also a long-standing policy of the Justice Department to abstain from criminal proceedings before an election to avoid the appearance of trying to influence the outcome. Smith has signaled that he will discard that policy and that he is prepared to try Trump not only up to the election but through the election.

He is now reportedly willing to try Trump up to January 20th.

Smith has made trying Trump before the election the overriding priority in his two cases against the former president. He failed repeatedly to force a shorter schedule on appeal before the Supreme Court. His arguments were revealing. He suggested that the public should have a possible conviction before they cast their votes. It flipped the DOJ policy on its head in openly seeking to influence the election.

The Supreme Court was not persuaded, though Smith did succeed in effectively cutting the appellate process a bit shorter.  He then lost in spectacular fashion before the Court on presidential immunity.

According to the Post, he is not giving up the ghost and is now committed to a trial running up to Inauguration Day: “Current officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, expressed … that if Trump wins the election, the clock on the two federal cases against him would keep ticking until Jan. 20, when he would be sworn in as the 47th president.”

Even with Smith’s continued push to try Trump at all costs before the Inauguration, it could be a challenge. There is a 30-day period before the Supreme Court case is effectively returned to district court.

Judge Tanya Chutkan has been highly favorable for Smith and highly motivated in seeking a trial before the election. That led to problems highlighted in the recent opinion. Chutkan was so motivated that she failed to create an adequate record on these issues. That record will now have to be established.

If Chutkan rules as she did earlier, she is expected to be hostile to Trump’s claims on his conduct falling within official functions. However, she will need to make the record and her decision could again be appealed. The Court left clear guidelines that will make it difficult for Chutkan to, again, dismiss such claims.

Moreover, the pre-trial motions were stopped with the latest appeal. They must now be addressed. Finally, she pledged to give the Trump team over 80 days for preparation after the appeal, which will be added to the 30 days, the period for the remand record, and the pre-trial motions.

There is also the need for the court and Smith to deal with the Fischer decision limiting the use of the obstruction charges — impacting two of the four counts against Trump. As I have previously written, Smith has various options but could trigger a new reversal on appeal if he follows his signature inclination to resist legal limits.

In other words, Smith’s appetite for a trial before the Inauguration may exceed his ability to force that expedited schedule.

353 thoughts on “Post: Jack Smith is Willing to Try Trump Up to Inauguration Day”

  2. Jack Smith got nothing to do with it. It’s in Garland’s court to pull the plug now. They have all sacrificed their reputations to this farce. History will not be kind to them, or to the media, or to the far-leftists who are about to lose control of the party they hold hostage. Garland may be smart enough to try to salvage his own reputation, but probably not.

    1. Garland’s Assistant AG is Lisa Monaco. That would be the Lisa Monaco working for Obama who worked with Jack Smith when Obama sent Smith from his DoJ to indict and prosecute the Republican he most feared to face in his 2012 re-election bid.

      Who’s the most likely to have chosen Jack Smith as an “independent, unbiased Special Counsel with no ties to the DoJ” after his conviction of Bob McDonnell that took McConnell out as a candidate was thrown out in a unanimous SCOTUS decision who ruled that Jack Smith was “a threat to the separation of powers”?

      Merrick Garland? Or Lisa Monaco from the Obama administration who was part of Smith’s police state fascism prosecution of their most feared opponent in the previous re-election bid?

      History repeats itself. So does Soviet Democrat police state fascism – even the same actors.

  4. AS to Jack Smith, Juan Merchan, Alvin Braggs, Letitia James, and Fani Willis, et al: This is no longer a matter of administration or adjudication of [perceived] justice.
    It is now a matter of saving face and playing a game of one-upmanship based on political bias.
    (even Roberts’ unusually tough call-outs (when addressing the merits of the dissent) hint at “I’m tired of all this specious anti-Trump motivation.” )

    1. With all due respect lin, I don’t think any of that applies. I refer you to Jack Smith’s previous performance as Obama’s version of Lavarentiy Beria during that 2012 re-election campaign. Sent from the DoJ to first advise Louis Lerner that she could shut down GOP campaign groups for “investigation” for the duration of the campaign. And then to prosecute their most feared potential opponent – taking him out of the campaign to be replaced by the feckless Mitt Romney.

      After Obama was successfully reelected, Louis Lerner pled the Fifth in the investigation that followed, Obama said “I didn’t know about that”, and taxpayers shelled out millions in damages to those groups. Once the convictions reached SCOTUS, they threw out the convictions of McDonnell (and his wife similarly convicted of corruption even though she wasn’t in any public office). The decision gave a laundry list of Smith reinterpreting the law, twisting the law, adding text to the law that did not exist.

      And most damning, the opinion called Jack Smith out and called him “a threat to the separation of powers”.

      Did any attempts at face saving come from that? From Obama? Holder? Jack Smith? Anybody in their administration?

      Jack Smith’s record and his conduct didn’t bother them in the slightest when they brought Jack Smith back for a repeat performance to take out Trump.

      I need more convincing in the face of Jack Smith’s history that elevated him rather than destroy him, that they’re suddenly going to think about face saving. Never had a problem with that the last time they did this in 2012.

      1. Yeah, let’s talk about Jack Smith and Obama instead of Trump stealing classified documents, lying about returning them, trying to foment an insurrection because he’s a LOSER, and trying to rig the vote in Georgia. Jack Smith just must be the problem.

  6. You know we would not be having any of this if we had a simple voting system.
    1-verify you are a citizen with clear cut standards for verification applicable to all states, just like the Voting right laws
    2-voter ID based on the fact that you are a verified citizen and your id shows who you are.
    3-Single day of voting with no mail ins, no absentee voting except for the military.
    4-no electronic voting, all paper and all ballots stored for 20 years
    All the states of the European Union basically do this and they argue over policies and programs and not whether the vote was valid. I don’t care for much of their politics but I don’t question the validity of their election results.
    India does this and has nearly 1.5 billion people and virtually no contesting of elections. Violence is there, but most of it is sectarian and religious and not voting irregularities.
    Why would you contest voter ID unless you wish to cheat. States that voted in voter id since the last election have had voting go up among African American voters and most minorities. Trump may or may not have won in 2020 but if every state had had voter ID and no absentee or mail in voting, all of this we are dealing with now would have never occurred.

      1. Paper is much less reliable than electronic machines. Or were you born after the dimpled chad 2000 election?

        1. I voted successfully with punch cards for years, in two states. The problem with Florida is they never blew the old chads out of the punch blocks. The resulting stacks made punching out this years chads impossible.

        2. That is some democrat science right there. How much less reliable? What kind of paper/electronic machines?

          Maybe just stop guessing your way through life.

        3. Paper ballots have been used for centuries without putting them through a machine that marks the ballot.

          Or were you born after use of a pencil to mark a ballot was used in other countries?

          Oh wait… that won’t work… our neighbors up north hold their elections by marking ballots with pencils. AND they manage to count the ballots and deliver the results on election day.

        4. Anonymous 10:08 AM, proof please. The country worked basically on paper up till near the end of the 20th century. Hard to hack paper. Main rule is don’t vote outside in the rain. Don’t have to use chads, just an X in the square.

    3. There is absolutely no evidence that mail ballots were false or that there was widespread voter fraud. Another Trump lie because he’s an LOSER. And, yes, there were more votes cast than in the past because Trump is so odious to most people.

      1. Riiiiight….
        Signature verification and date stamp verification much?
        Again, please get some psychiatric help for your TDS. Harmful side effects may include dying your hair blue, neck and face tattoos, toe rings, herd gullibility, face piercings, tofu consumption, Biden/Harris stickers on your EV, and mutilating one’s body.

  7. Smith would have made an excellent enforcer for Stasi, the NKVD, or the current CCP, His prosecutions (or persecutions) have twice been over turned. He is a menace to a democracy and should be treated as such

  8. Was it Roosevelt’s fault that Germany and Japan went on the warpath?

  9. Since trump wants to be a dictator on day one, we should declare it a purge day and withdraw secret service protections on that day as well.

    Play ball!!

  10. What else (aside from rioting, screaming, proffering unconstitutional legislation and otherwise misinforming Americans) does the prog/left have remaining, at this point, to stave off their fall from power than lawfare?

  11. Someone should tell Ahab here that the white whale got him at the end of the story.

  13. Good for Jack Smith. He seems interested in justice and trying to avoid the surreal absurdity of not trying an ex president for trying to overthrow an election before running in the next one….

    Turley, on the other hand, is determined to join the scotus in taking a s$%t on the floor of the Capitol.

    Interesting thing about the bogus immunity ruling…, by taking away the ability to look into presidential intent for their crimes, they’ve opened the door to a strict reading of whether they committed them or not. Totally black and white. Pretty much demolishes the need to protect them while in office. So yeah…, take away the OLC protections. Impeachment is completely non effective. Prosecute in office.

    1. Look up Smith’s record. He has a history of being overly aggressive and losing cases or being overturned. Look up abusive prosecutor in the dictionary and you will see his picture.

            1. Traveler,
              3 out of 4 TDS patients agree.
              The 4th one came to her senses and is now voting Trump.

            2. Why would I do that when I could just double tap you with it and skull f#$k your entry wounds with a selfie stick?

      2. I wonder why anyone bothers replying to “Anonymous”. He is a leftist braindead idiot whose party loyalty is so great , he would probably have turned in his parents to the gestapo or the NKVD if the party instructed him to and if he lived in those countries 85 years ago. Turley is not always right and given his humbleness I assume he does not consider himself infallible, but he has forgotten more about constitutional law then Mr. Anonymous has or would ever know in multiple lifetimes. The latter thinks he is an intelligent gadfly writing insults to elicit angry responses from the commenters on this site, but really why waste your time? He will never deviate from his party line and continues to throw insult and slanders against Professor Turley, an indefatigable defender of the 1st Amendment, which is antithetical to small minded authoritarian leftists’. My last comment on this person!

        1. Thanks for replying and completely ignoring your principles!!

          Sidebar: my relatives fought against the Nazis.

    2. Also, take away a president’s ability to make a trial go away if they re enter office and are faced with outstanding charges. Strict balls and strikes.

      Should be like an instant replay in sports. If facing charges upon entering office and a newly elected president challenges them, pause everything and settle the trial immediately. If that president loses, they should be publicly f#$ked by a horse at the Washinton Monument.

    3. Are you petitioning us? Or just had to get that off your chest? Was it cathartic?

      Take a jog today. You’ll feel better.

    4. Good for Jack Smith. He seems interested in justice and trying to avoid the surreal absurdity of not trying an ex president for trying to overthrow an election before running in the next one….

      Another cowardly Anonymous Soviet Democrat police state fascist who loves Jack Smith performing as the party’s version of Stalin’s Lavarentiy Beria: “Show me the man and I’ll find you his crimes”. Trying to rig an election repeatedly by trying to find some way to take out Trump so the corrupt walking corpse, Joe Biden can manage to win.

      Interesting thing about these bogus American Soviet Democrats – it doesn’t bother them in the slightest that when Jack Smith previously took out Obama’s most dangerous potential GOP candidate in the 2012 election, when it got to SCOTUS they threw out his prosecution in a unanimous decision. And called out Jack Smith and specifically called him “a threat to the separation of powers”.

      These people celebrating the Soviet Democrats again employing Jack Smith as an “independent, unbiased Special Counsel with no connections to the DoJ” are the same people who try telling you it isn’t Bribery Biden that’s the threat to democracy – it’s Trump who they’re sending Jack Smith to take out.

      1. Nah, I’m just needing to see an orange criminal in jail. All the other b.s. you just made up is YOUR fever dream.

  14. 1. Politics should not play a role in when trials are held.

    2. Trump is the one who has done everything to delay the trials, so he can’t cry that they are being done at a bad time. He could have had them all over by now.

    3. What about Hunter’s laptop?

  15. Smith is just doing his job, a job which he should have been tasked with earlier.

    1. BOHICA

      Since most Americans agree that the America we all once knew and loved no longer exists, here is to remembering a great American writer: Ernest Hemingway. Yesterday, July 2, was the anniversary of his death. Hemingway suffered multiple head injuries which likely impacted his neurocognitive, affective domains. I am reading his short book, A Moveable Feast, that many claim was his greatest work, to remember what American greatness looks like

      “They say the seeds of what we will do are in all of us, but it always seemed to me that in those who make jokes in life the seeds are covered with better soil and with a higher grade of manure.”
      ― Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast

      To the genius of Ernest Hemingway, remembering when America was once a beacon on the hill

    2. Smith is just doing his job! LOL, there seems to be a bit of a problem with that one too.

  17. Smith seems so obsessed with Trump that he would be willing to interfere with a presidential transition. The irony of declaring Trump is the one who would resist a peaceful transfer of power.

  18. @ 1200 hrs January 20, 2025 Joke Smith will be seeking employment slinging hash in any soup kitchen that will offer him employment.

  19. Biden Presidency and his enablers are drowning, and Americans are not willing to lend a hand….its all been a pack of lies

    Cue Phil Collins

    CNN: Three-quarters of US voters say the Democratic Party would have a better shot at holding the presidency in 2024 with someone other than President Joe Biden at the top of the ticket, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS. His approval rating also has hit a new low following a shaky performance in the first debate of this year’s presidential campaign.

    In a matchup between the presumptive major-party nominees, voters nationwide favor former President Donald Trump over Biden by 6 points, 49% to 43%, identical to the results of CNN’s national poll on the presidential race in April, and consistent with the lead Trump has held in CNN polling back to last fall.

    https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/02/politics/cnn-poll-post-debate/index.html

    🎶 Well, if you told me you were drowning, I would not lend a hand
    I’ve seen your face before, my friend, but I don’t know if you know who I am
    Well, I was there and I saw what you did, I saw it with my own two eyes
    So you can wipe off that grin, I know where you’ve been
    It’s all been a pack of lies 🎶

    1. -But be careful what you pray for. Have you noticed the precursory, very recent MEDIA coverage, suddenly boasting that Kamala Harris is leaping in polls, and even beating Biden in many of them? Methinks America is being subliminally prepped for a Biden who may not complete a second term…I fear her damage more than that of the Bumbling B.

  20. My name is Ahab.
    Captain Smith continues his maniacal pursuit of Moby Trump. He is a man obsessed. And we all know how that story ends.

    1. …The Biden re-election machine
      is looking more and more
      like a Ship of Fools
      everyday.

Comments are closed.