Special counsel Jack Smith made a move under the radar earlier this month that could bode well for former President Donald Trump in his Jan. 6 ‘election interference’ case.
According to people who spoke with The New York Times, Smith appears to be wrapping up his investigation into whether Trump’s campaign misled investors by presenting false election claims after the 2020 election against Joe Biden.
His prosecutorial team has “quietly withdrawn a subpoena seeking records from” Trump’s 2020 campaign “as part of their investigation into whether Mr. Trump’s political and fund-raising operations committed any crimes as he sought to stay in power after he lost the election,” two sources told the Times.
“The office of the special counsel, Jack Smith, decided this week to effectively kill the subpoena to the Trump campaign following the withdrawal of a similar subpoena to Save America, the political action committee that Mr. Trump’s aides formed shortly after he lost the race in 2020,” The Times continued.
In addition, The Times suggested the fact that Smith’s office is withdrawing the subpoenas it had served to Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., and the Save America PAC implies that it is wrapping up its investigation into whether the former president broke any laws when he claimed the 2020 election was rigged to benefit himself.
The Times also credited the Washington Post for first reporting that the subpoena issued to Save America was withdrawn.
The Times said that Trump’s political operation raised nearly $250 million off of claims that the 2020 election was stolen—claims that were never proven to be accurate.
“Trump’s team has long maintained that the financial inquiry by Mr. Smith’s office would struggle to yield any charges. Political fund-raising materials often engage in bombast or exaggeration, and a fine line exists between criminal behavior and solicitations protected by the First Amendment,” The Times noted.
Meanwhile, Trump was dealt a blow by a judge he appointed in his classified documents case taking place in Florida.
Judge Aileen Cannon denied the former president’s attorney’s request to have the case, which is scheduled to begin in May 2024, moved until after the 2024 presidential election.
The motion was “denied without prejudice,” but it will be given consideration again at a scheduling conference set for March 1, 2024.
“[T]he quantity of discovery in this case remains exceedingly voluminous, even more so than initially thought. To be sure, the Special Counsel has taken various steps to produce discovery on a regular basis. But even with these efforts, discovery has increased sizably from initial estimates…” the judge said.
But she did note that his trial schedule and his campaign schedule would make a May 2024 trial tough.
“Although the Special Counsel is correct that the trajectory of these matters potentially remains in flux, the schedules as they currently stand overlap substantially with the deadlines in this case, presenting additional challenges to ensuring Defendant Trump has adequate time to prepare for trial and to assist in his defense,” she wrote in her ruling.
Also last week, an attorney and legal spokeswoman for Trump provided a big update on the four indictments against the 45th president.
During an interview on Fox News, Trump attorney Alina Habba spoke about the indictments against Trump and how they believe the trial dates—two of them scheduled to begin in March 2024, in the middle of the GOP primary—are aimed at hurting Trump’s campaign.
“We’re prepared. From here, we actually get to litigate the case, which, as an attorney, I look forward to. I know our legal team does as well, to get to take our own turn at looking at all of the information and our own turn to put our side out, which is something that everybody needs to remember hasn’t happened as of yet,” Habba said.
“Four indictments are simply that, an indictment, which is just one-sided B.S., for lack of a better word, on their political scheme to interfere with the leading candidate for president,” she added.
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