Legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said it would be “questionable” if Special Counsel Jack Smith would speak publicly about President-elect Trump's case in federal court.[s] It would work out very well for President Trump. ”
Mr. Smith currently has two lawsuits against Mr. Trump. One charge was for conspiring to overturn the 2020 election leading up to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, and the other was for keeping classified documents at his Florida mansion and obstructing justice.
“All you can do is call him to testify. So I say to Republicans, be careful what you ask for, because even though Jack Smith has a platform to talk about these cases, Because — I don't think it's going to work that well for President Trump,'' Toobin told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Friday.
Since Trump won the presidential election, Smith has been considering how to quash the two lawsuits against him, in line with the Justice Department's policy of barring prosecutions of sitting presidents. It will become a thing. It was widely expected that Trump's Justice Department would drop the charges, but Smith's team is discussing withdrawing the case ahead of Inauguration Day.
On Friday, a federal judge granted a special request from Smith to extend the deadline in Trump's election interference case.
Asked during an interview if Smith could be jailed, Toobin reassured him that “as long as the rule of law exists in the way it exists now, we can't jail Jack Smith.”
However, President Trump has long hinted that he plans to immediately dismantle Special Counsel Jack Smith's office once he retakes the White House, telling conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt in an October interview: Ta. I would fire him within 2 seconds. ”
But Trump's civil suit could move forward. President Trump could be fined more than $500 million before the New York attorney general's civil fraud case and two defamation lawsuits brought by columnist E. Jean Carroll are decided.
The Justice Department's policy does not allow criminal prosecution against a sitting president, but it has allowed civil lawsuits against the Oval Office to continue, New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) said Wednesday. He said he was prepared to stand up to the second Trump administration.
