Jack Smith’s Dilemma – Target the Co-Conspirators?

Special counsel Jack Smith is caught at crossroads.

Jack Smith faces a crossroads in Trump prosecution #DonaldTrump #JusticeDepartment #Crossroads #Supremecourthttps://t.co/YVuvPbdH3A

— Charles B. Ledford (@CharlesBLedford) August 13, 2024

The Hill writes:

Special counsel Jack Smith finds himself at more than one prosecutorial crossroads as he weighs how to move forward on former President Trump’s Jan. 6 case in the wake of the Supreme Court’s immunity decision.

Smith last week asked to extend deadlines in the case to late August, a shift for a prosecutor who previously pushed for a schedule that would bring the case to trial before the election.

The Supreme Court’s immunity ruling earlier this summer dealt a tough hand for Smith by determining that former presidents like Trump retain broad protection from criminal prosecution for actions they take while in office.

It’s left Smith at a juncture where he may choose to narrow his case, push for a hearing that would walk through much of the evidence against Trump, or even expand the indictment by charging the former president’s co-conspirators.

Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney, said prosecutors often “choose the path of least resistance” in the interest of moving a case along.

But with Trump’s team aggressively fighting the charges and thwarting Smith’s plans for a preelection trial, he may be reconsidering that approach, including eyeing the six co-conspirators who went unindicted alongside Trump.

“Initially, Jack Smith did not name them, I am guessing, because he was hoping to streamline the case against Trump and get it done quickly, because it was Trump who’s the threat to democracy,” McQuade said, noting the group includes campaign and legal advisers Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Jeff Clark, Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro and Boris Epshteyn.

“But in light of the fact that there will be no trial [before the election], maybe he’s decided, ‘You know what, the time’s come, I’m just going to charge the other defendants.’”

Smith acknowledged the ruling in asking for the delay granted by Judge Tanya Chutkan, saying his team “continues to assess the new precedent set forth last month in the Supreme Court’s decision.”

It seems new strategies are being formed…

Jack Smith Should Indict New Donald Trump 'Co-Conspirators': Attorney https://t.co/IUBbEmH9NV

— KA McGloin (@KAMcGloin1957) August 14, 2024

Newsweek writes:

Jack Smith should indict Donald Trump’s co-conspirators in the election fraud case, a lawyer has said.

Karen Friedman Agnifilo said that the conspirators, who are unnamed in the indictment, should be charged now that the election fraud trial will not occur before the presidential election.

“When are they going to be indicted?” she asked, on the podcast of the MeidasTouch liberal news site.

She continued: “I think that the reason Jack Smith only indicted one defendant, Donald Trump, and for four counts … was to try to see if we can get a trial before the election.

“Well now that that’s not going to happen, I think it’s kind of time to indict the unindicted co-conspirators and bring your case, so there’s a lot of open questions.”

Based on January 6 committee testimony, NBC News has stated that five of the six unindicted co-conspirators appear to be former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani; lawyer John Eastman; attorney Sidney Powell; former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark and lawyer Kenneth Chesebro.

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Friedman Agnifilo said that special counsel Jack Smith likely did not indict the others because it would have slowed down the case and made it very difficult to prosecute Trump before the presidential election.

She said that Trump’s trial will not now happen before the election so it would be a good time to add the other conspirators to the indictment.