Legal experts lay out 4 'significant hurdles' federal prosecutors face in Trump indictment

09 June 2023

On Thursday night, June 8, Donald Trump became the first former president in U.S. history to be indicted on federal criminal charges. The frontrunner in the 2024 GOP presidential primary has been indicted on seven counts in connection with special counsel Jack Smith's investigation of classified government documents he was storing at Mar-a-Lago.

In a separate federal case, Smith has been probing Trump's activities following the 2020 presidential election and leading up to the January 6, 2021 insurrection.

In an op-ed/essay published by the New York Times on June 9, three legal experts — Norman Eisen, Andrew Weissmann and law professor Joyce White Vance — discuss the "hurdles" that federal prosecutors are facing with this indictment.

"The prosecution follows a long investigation into Mr. Trump's possession of hundreds of classified documents and other presidential records at his private club in Florida and elsewhere after he left office," they explain. "It poses unique challenges, and not only because the defendant is a former president who is running for reelection in an already tense political environment. Prosecutors will have to reckon with the challenge of publicly trying a case that involves some of our nation's most highly classified secrets."

This indictment comes on top on the 34-count prosecution Trump is facing from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr. Another state prosecutor, Fulton County, Georgia DA Fani Willis, has been investigating Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in her state.

Eisen, Weissmann and Vance note that Smith's prosecution "will inevitably have to be coordinated for scheduling purposes with" Bragg's prosecution "as well as potential future charges in Fulton County, Ga., and perhaps by Mr. Smith related to the January 6 attack on the Capitol."

The legal experts add that Smith "will have to overcome four significant hurdles: (1) "Keep things simple," (2) "the Trump defense," (3) "The clock is ticking," and (4) "Persuade the American public."

Read the full New York Times op-ed/essay at this link (subscription required)

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