In a legal document crafted by Special Counsel Jack Smith, one that was recently partially unsealed, the special counsel made his case that the former president, Donald Trump, can be prosecuted by the federal government on federal charges related to the post-2020 election chaos and what they allege were his attempts to overturn the election.
The document, however, one that is a whopping and comprehensive 165-page report coming from the election fraud case, has been described not as a big blow to the former president’s legal efforts, but rather as a “big win” for his legal team and efforts to defeat Special Counsel Jack Smith. That is because it revealed Smith’s legal strategies.
Such is what former prosecutor Joyce Vance said when she spoke on the podcast “Stay Tuned With Preet Bharara.” During that podcast appearance, she noted that the partially unsealed filing reveals the identities of potential witnesses and provides insight into how the special counsel is structuring his case.
Joyce Vance said on the podcast, explaining why the filing is a win for the Trump legal team, that the unsealed document will help them focus and craft their rebuttals, as they have insight into what Smith will be arguing. She said, “This brief puts Trump’s team in a better position to respond, to make their own immunity arguments, and to prepare their case.”
Continuing, she noted that the document won’t impact the election either, as those who would go to the trouble of reading it have had their minds made up. She said, “This is, in fact, a win for Trump. And I guarantee you that nobody in the public who spent their time reading 165 pages in detail didn’t have their mind already made up about this election, right? The broad contours here, they are well known. This is not impacting the election.”
Newsweek, reporting on the conversation, noted that Joyce Vance was, in speaking about the document and its impact in such a way, responding to former federal and state prosecutor Elie Honig, now a CNN Senior Legal Analyst, “who wrote in his legal blog that Smith’s October 2 filing was a “cheap shot,” generating headlines and potentially influencing voters and members of the jury pool.”
During the conversation, both Vance and the host of the podcast, Preet Bharara, dismissed claims that the special counsel is on an “obsessive quest” to target former President Trump. Instead, Bharara said, and Vance agreed, that Jack Smith is only on a quest for justice. Vance added that Smith is, in her opinion, diligently “keeping his head down.”Trump has recently been directing less fire at Jack Smith than he used to and more at VP Harris and the media. For example, in a recent post on Truth Social, he sounded off on both, saying, in reference to the edited “60 Minutes” interview she did, “A giant Fake News Scam by CBS & 60 Minutes. Her REAL ANSWER WAS CRAZY, OR DUMB, so they actually REPLACED it with another answer in order to save her or, at least, make her look better. A FAKE NEWS SCAM, which is totally illegal. TAKE AWAY THE CBS LICENSE. Election Interference. She is a Moron, and the Fake News Media wants to hide that fact. An UNPRECEDENTED SCANDAL!!! The Dems got them to do this and should be forced to concede the Election? WOW!”