Trump Indictment


How Big a Deal Is It? S


Alan Dershowitz Says: A Strong Indictment — but Strong Enough?


pecial counsel Jack Smith is both confi dent in his case against Don-


ald Trump and sensitive to po- litical considerations — though those considerations are sub- tler than the kind of partisan advantage that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is after. That’s why Smith brought


the charges in Florida. He thinks the case is strong enough that a jury will convict Trump even in a jurisdiction of diverse party affi liations. His confi dence may also


explain why he alleged that Trump willfully rather than negligently mishandled clas-


sifi ed material. He might also have wanted to distinguish Trump’s case from those of Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and Mike Pence, none of which al- legedly involved willfulness. What should have begun


as a routine civil investigation under the Presidential Records Act has ended up with a multi- count criminal indictment, the fi rst federal prosecution ever of a former president or a leading candidate for the presidency. This is partially because


prosecutors targeted Trump and partially because of the un- wise way he responded. Bragg campaigned for his offi ce on a promise to hold


Trump accountable and de- livered when he persuaded a grand jury to hand up a weak indictment. Smith was appointed spe-


cifi cally to investigate Trump, and he did his job well. The problem inheres in the offi ce of special counsel, which by its nature selects its target and looks for evidence against him. Smith had a lot of help from


Trump. Had the former presi- dent cooperated with investiga- tors and immediately returned all the classifi ed material in his possession, as Biden and Pence did, charges would have been unlikely. The defense team will claim


that Trump was entitled to maintain possession of classi- fi ed material under the Presi- dential Records Act of 1978, which establishes detailed procedures for handling the records of former presidents


AUGUST 2023 | NEWSMAX 53


ANDREW KELLY-POOL/GETTY IMAGES


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