Former Nixon White House Counsel John Dean predicted that Special Counsel Jack Smith will “keep up the fight” after announcing indictments against former President Trump in the federal election interference case.
CNN's Pamela Brown asked Dean on Tuesday about the updated indictments in the case, which focuses on Trump's efforts to remain in power after losing the 2020 presidential election to President Biden, and whether Smith's move to revive the classified documents case against the former president indicates the special counsel will continue to fight for the case.
“I think it's clear that he's going to keep fighting,” Dean said on CNN on Tuesday night. “sauce”
“In the Mar-a-Lago Papers case, he filed a very aggressive brief,” he continued. “He did not seek removal of the judge.”
Smith filed a supplemental indictment that retained the four charges brought against Trump but dropped some elements of the case following last month's exoneration from the Supreme Court, a day after Smith asked the appeals court to reopen a document lawsuit that U.S. District Judge Eileen Cannon had dismissed last month.
Dean said he suspects the “very strong report” shows Cannon “had little basis to dismiss this case and fire the special counsel.”
“The Department of Justice has a long history of attorneys general appointing special counsels. She wants to break that. In fact, if her ruling is upheld, every assistant U.S. attorney will lose their job,” Dean said of Cannon.
“The situation there is very shocking,” he added, “and I think Jack Smith is vigorously defending the Department of Justice, his office and the lawsuit that he has filed.”
The indictment states the cuts are part of an effort to “respect and implement the Supreme Court's decisions.”
The Supreme Court ruled this summer that the president has absolute immunity for acts that are within the core responsibilities of his office, and is “at least constructively immune” from all other public duties. Shortly after that ruling, Judge Cannon ruled that Smith was illegally appointed and dismissed the lawsuit against Trump, the Republican presidential nominee.
Asked whether the immunity ruling weakened Smith's case against the former president, Dean seemed to disagree.
“I don't believe it has been weakened,” he said Tuesday. “In fact, given that the immunity sentence has been strengthened, there is a chance it could pass.”
