Jack Smith may have impaired Donald Trump's right to a fair trial by releasing a detailed evidentiary brief to the public, a legal pundit for left-wing CBS admitted.
With his January 6th prosecution stalled, Smith took the unusual step of releasing a 165-page filing claiming Trump "resorted to crimes" to stay in power after the 2020 election.
Smith wanted to bring Trump to trial before the 2024 presidential election, but the prosecution has been bogged down in appeals.
In July, the Supreme Court sided with Trump in a historic dispute on presidential immunity, which forced Smith to revise the indictment.
The trial judge, Tanya Chutkan, released a lengthy evidentiary brief from Smith on Wednesday, raising concerns about the jury pool being tainted.
The Supreme Court's "vague" guidelines explain the "unusual" detail in Smith's motions, CBS legal contributor Rebecca Roiphe said. But, she added, it's not a stretch for Trump to now argue his rights are being trampled on.
“And so, you know, I think that’s worth pausing and mentioning that the former president’s argument that this was interfering with his constitutional right to a fair trial, you know, it’s not a far-fetched argument to make given how much detail is actually in there,” she said.
While Smith charges Trump with electoral interference, Smith is doing just that by releasing a gratuitous legal brief ahead of the presidential election, former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy said.
With no chance of the case proceeding before the election, Smith has no legal reason for releasing the evidence now, McCarthy said. The apparent purpose of Smith's move is to affect the presidential election, in which Trump is the Republican candidate.
"In fact, in most cases, a judge would be concerned about, for example, poisoning or prejudicing against the defendant a jury pool. In most cases a judge would be very concerned that evidence not be broadcast in public without the usual due process cautions that go on in a trial that the defendant be presumed innocent, the fact that allegations are not evidence of anything,” McCarthy continued.
“The point of releasing this now can only be to affect the election. There is no legal need for it.”
While there is no legal justification for what Smith is doing, he has an obvious political incentive: if Trump wins the presidency, Smith's prosecution is in jeopardy.
