Posted on 10/27/2025 12:56:05 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
Federal prosecutor David Raskin was expecting that the criminal case he had helped build against former president Donald Trump would be filed in Washington, D.C., when a colleague bumped into him with surprising news: Their boss, special counsel Jack Smith, had decided to bring the case in Florida.
“Are you all f---ing insane?” Raskin blurted out to his fellow prosecutor on that spring day in 2023, in a hallway at a Justice Department building in D.C.
Raskin, who had been investigating Trump for keeping dozens of classified documents at his Palm Beach golf club, was alarmed by what he saw as a huge gamble. In Florida, the case could wind up before U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon, a Trump-appointed jurist who had already temporarily blocked federal agents from reviewing sensitive records seized from Trump’s club during the investigation.
Smith and his top deputies had concluded that trying the case in Florida put them on firmer legal ground, reducing the risk of the most serious charges being overturned on appeal. And members of their team had initially calculated that there was just a 1 in 6 chance that a case in Florida would land in Cannon’s courtroom.
“I’m not worried about Florida,” Smith said later when presenting his decision to Justice Department officials.
But the early calculation of the odds that Cannon would get the case — and Smith’s faith that the evidence could win her over even after she did — turned out to be wrong.
This behind-the-scenes account reveals new details about the inner workings of Smith’s highly secretive team as he pushed it to complete a historic investigation in record time, including the venue choice that led to the unraveling of the most clear-cut criminal charges that Trump faced. It lays bare previously unreported dissension...
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
Just goes to show that even the “strongest” case was selective prosecution BS.
“””Just goes to show that even the “strongest” case was selective prosecution BS.””””
But Trump had boxes and boxes of ...something... in his bathroom. Isn’t that enough for a life sentence?
It also goes to show why D.C. and its juries are the favorite when it comes to prosecuting Republicans both real and imagined. Can’t have a non-democrat on a jury.
Congress should change the law so that lawsuits brought against the executive branch must be brought in a randomly assigned venue in the lower 48 states.
Bkmk
Uninformed article. Smith had to go outside of DC because there was a precedent in that circuit that would have killed his case - the Clinton sock drawer tapes classified info case that said Slick could keep the tapes as presidential records. Moving to Florida got Smith outside the reach of that precedent. New twist on Compost’s revisionist history coverage.
And Melania had some really nice silk undies. Case closed.
SMITH NEEDS TO GO SPEND THE REST OF HIS LIFE IN LEAVENWORTH
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