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Overlooked Case Against Trump Could ‘Blow Up’ Jack Smith’s Prosecution: Legal Expert

https://conservativebrief.com/overlooked-case-81600/?utm_source=CB&utm_medium=DJD

EXCERPT:

Former federal prosecutor Andy McCarthy said during a TV appearance on Monday that many people “miss” the case that would “blow up” special counsel Jack Smith’s prosecutions of former President Donald Trump.

Smith indicted Trump in August on four counts related to his actions following the 2020 presidential election.

“The case to keep your eye on is the obstruction case,” McCarthy told “America’s Newsroom” co-host Bill Hemmer. “We miss it because Trump is not a party to that case. They are looking at the same statute that is key to Smith’s prosecution of Trump in Washington, and if they — as I expect they may, if they — if they say the Justice Department has not been correctly applying that statute, that’s going to have a catastrophic impact for Smith on his indictment.”

The U.S. Department of Justice has brought charges against numerous individuals involved in the January 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol building for violating 18 USC Section 1512(c)(2), obstructing or impeding an official proceeding. This offense carries a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

“The D.C. Circuit’s expansion of Section 1512(c)(2) beyond evidence impairment to protests at the seat of government thus conflicts with the interpretations of other courts of appeal limiting the scope of the same statute,” attorneys for Joseph Fischer, who was charged in connection with the Capitol riot, wrote in a brief submitted to the Supreme Court.
Jeffrey Rosen, a law professor at George Washington University who discussed the case on CNN last month, also linked it to one being pursued by the former president’s legal team regarding presidential immunity.

He said that if the nation’s highest court rules in favor of Trump, Smith’s case will be infinitely more difficult to prosecute and win.

“There’s a centrally important case in the Supreme Court where the Court’s going to decide whether the core of Jack Smith’s charges involving obstruction of justice are consistent with Constitution and the law or not,” he told CNN.

He added: “If they throw those out, that’s going to be a stake in the heart of the Jack Smith case. It won’t prevent it, but it’ll make it much harder to pursue.”