The U.S. Department of Justice‘s (DOJ) special counsel Jack Smith is teeing up to move forward with a “great strategy” in his case against former President Donald Trump, legal analyst Joyce Vance said on MSNBC on Saturday.
Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, faces four felony charges for his alleged attempts to overturn President Joe Biden‘s 2020 election victory, culminating in the riot at the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021, where a mob of Trump supporters tried, but failed, to stop Congress from certifying the election results. The former president has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him and claims the case is politically motivated. He has continued to repeat claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him via widespread voter fraud, despite there being no evidence of this.
Smith took a huge blow in the case on July 1 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 decision that former presidents have immunity for official acts conducted while in office, but not for unofficial acts. The ruling stems from an argument made by Trump that he is immune from prosecution because he was in office when the alleged election inference scheme took place.
On Thursday, Smith asked U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is presiding over the case, for an extension on some pre-trial proceedings, writing in a court filing that the DOJ is still assessing the Supreme Court‘s July 1 ruling. A hearing to go over the case’s schedule moving forward was originally set for August 16, but Chutkan moved it to September 5 and also pushed back the deadline for a status report that both parties were meant to file on August 9 to August 30 upon Smith’s request for an extension.
Speaking to Vance, a former U.S. attorney under the Obama administration, MSNBC host Katie Phang, who is a lawyer herself, said on The Katie Phang Show on Saturday afternoon: “You and I have talked about the meaning of why Jack Smith would need more time. I wanted to have your thoughts on this because I am not the ‘sky is falling’ Chicken Little about this. I think it’s critical for Smith to get it right his first time at bat.”
Vance agreed with Phang and said Smith “will come out on the other end with a great strategy that’s anticipated all of the potential problems and tee up the government’s case to move forward.”
The legal analyst explained why Smith needed the delay.
“This case will go back on appeal before there’s a trial. The Supreme Court has said, and rightly so, that the point of having immunity is that you shouldn’t have to go to trial in violation of that immunity. So, the Supreme Court or at least the appellate courts will double check anything that Judge Chutkan does here before it moves on.”
She continued: “Jack Smith has his own obligations under DOJ rules. He’s obligated to consult with a number of different components and have everyone sign off on his final strategy. That’s the really cumbersome part of being at the Justice Department,” adding that the process can be “frustratingly slow.”
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s communications director, Steven Cheung, and Vance via email and the DOJ via online form for comment on Sunday morning.
