Jack Smith walked into a Senate hearing room this morning with Donald Trump threatening to prosecute him, and he told the country Trump committed serious crimes anyway.ContentsJACK SMITH STANDS UP TO TRUMP DESPITE THREATS OF PROSECUTIONMUSICIAN HITS TRUMP WITH LEGAL THREAT OVER PROPAGANDA ADTRUMP MOCKS “SLEEPY JOE” THEN NODS OFF ON CAMERAMARK CARNEY IS BEATING […]
Jack Smith might get a pass from me if Robert Mueller didn’t royally fuck up his investigation in full view of Smith for pretty much the same reasons. Smith definitely saw the way that played out and still waited 3 years too long to say stuff like what is quoted in this headline. Good for him for saying it eventually but if he wanted it to matter he’s way too late taking his stand and he should have known that better than anyone.
He was preparing a case to go to trial, one of the most important cases in American history. It’s not a reality show. There was never an opportunity back then to make the statements he made this week. Frankly, most of that would have been the content of his opening statement to the court. When was the last time you heard a prosecutor give his opening statement to the media BEFORE he gave it to the court?
He never got the chance to say this stuff, mostly because Biden and Garland dithered and slow-walked the whole thing, compounded by Trump doing the one thing he’s good at: manipulating the court schedule. That allowed MAGA to run out the clock, so Trump could cheat his way back into office and kill the investigations.
They should have gone after the 14th Amendment, Section 3 first, and disqualified him from holding office (as well as any other MAGA that supported him), and then gone after the criminal charges.
Yes, but also he should’ve seen what was happening and realized the court of public opinion was his only shot of making it to a real one. Yes, adopting their dirty tactics is “unethical” or whatever, but exigent circumstances…
I agree with most of what you said. However, I find it odd that you called it “one of the most important cases in American history” but also seem to be defending their decision to treat it much like any other case.
Trump is the best example there is that norms and precedent don’t mean much. He loves using the system against his opponents and Smith didn’t fight back against that at all. Again, he should have expected Trump’s deny and delay tactics and took some action.
Fighting an opponent who uses the rules against you requires being creative with the rules. Instead of the bold action we needed we got timid deference to procedure. If Biden and Garland were the hold up then stand in front of the media and say that directly to the world. Force them to either get off their ass or fire you. Anything less is equivalent to letting Trump run out the clock, which is exactly what happened.
He’s proving right now that he knows how to do this, which is why it’s so frustrating that he didn’t do it when it might have mattered.
In reality not treating it with norms would immediately give Trump ammo to torpedo the entire thing and rightfully call it unfair. You can argue for reform but unilaterally imposing changes to how the process works for a single individual, during the investigation, is not a thing.
Your conclusion is that letting Trump walk was the right call so I’ll never agree with that argument. Dress it up how you like but it’s still bullshit.