CNN legal analyst Elie Honig said on Tuesday that special counsel Jack Smith âcut backâ on the election case against Republican nominee Donald Trump due to the U.S. Supreme Courtâs presidential immunity ruling.
Smith filed a superseding indictment on Tuesday including the same four charges initially handed down on August 1, 2023, in relation to his alleged interference in the 2020 election. Honig said Smith removed several parts of the original indictment that would likely be considered âofficial actsâ and is solely charging Trump with his alleged attempts to âpressure state and local officialsâ and âsubmit false slates of electors.â
âNow, if youâre wondering why would Jack Smith pair back, cut back his own case, the answer is because of the Supreme Courtâs immunity ruling which came down in July,â Honig said. âIn that ruling, it said that many of the things that Donald Trump did while he was in office, including specifically his interactions with DOJ, his public communications, likely his interactions with the [former] vice president [Mike Pence], those things are likely going to be immune and therefore out of this case.â
âSo therefore Jack Smith made a tactical decision, âIâm not going to fight the battle to keep those things in the case. Iâm going to take them out of the case, Iâm gonna focus on the pressure that Donald Trump put on state and local officials and the fake electors scheme and Iâm going to try and go ahead with those pieces of the case still in place,â Honig continued.
The Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 decision that presidents have immunity from prosecution for âofficial actsâ taken in office on July 1st. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion that the analysis of what is considered an official act is best left up to the lower courts.
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Smith charged Trump in August 2023 with âConspiracy to defraud the United States,â âConspiracy to corruptly obstruct and impede the January 6 proceedingsâ and âA conspiracy against the right to vote and to have oneâs vote counted.â
âI think this is a tactical retreat of sorts,â Honig continued. âI think Jack Smith has made the decision, given the Supreme Courtâs immunity ruling, âI donât want to spend the time and the resources to fight for inclusion of those other parts of the case. So what Jack Smith has done is retreat to the safest ground to the part that the Supreme Court actually said is probably okay, is probably not immune. They said itâs very likely not the job of the president to interact with and pressure state and local officials.â
Honig added that Trumpâs legal team will likely appeal the new indictment and argue the remainder of the case is immune. The legal analyst said there is a â0 percent chanceâ that the case will be tried before the election on November 5th.
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