(Daily Caller) A former Justice Department official said Wednesday that special counsel Jack Smith may face a difficult obstacle with his Tuesday superseding indictment of former President Donald Trump.
The new indictment includes the identical four conspiracy and obstruction charges as the original and was submitted in light of the Supreme Court’s July presidential immunity ruling finding presidents possess immunity from prosecution for official acts they take while in office. Former Chief of the Justice Department’s Organized Crime and Gang Section Jim Trusty, said on “CNN News Central” that Smith is trying to steer clear of violating the presidential immunity ruling but could misjudge which acts Judge Tanya Chutkan will deem protected, potentially necessitating another indictment process.
WATCH:
Attorney Tells CNN There’s ‘Huge Land Mine’ Jack Smith Could Be Stepping On With New Trump Indictment pic.twitter.com/3lrzGOwu06
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 28, 2024
“It’s interesting, it’s kind of aggressively being defensive. It’s paring back the indictment to try to anticipate how the judge would rule on this official acts quandary that he finds himself in after the Supreme Court case on immunity, that basically says personal acts are prosecutable, but official acts are not,” Trusty said. “So he’s anticipating that, but it’s really interesting because the opinion says, not just that immunized information is not properly before the court at trial, but that it contaminates the grand jury process. If you include that information in pursuing an indictment, that’s a huge land mine.”
