Retired conservative judge: Trump 'dared, taunted, provoked, and goaded DOJ' into indicting him

13 June 2023

Retired Judge Michael Luttig of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit weighed in on Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith's thirty-seven-count criminal indictment against ex-President Donald Trump in a Tuesday Twitter thread.

Luttig has emerged as a vocal Trump critic amid the scandal involving Trump's alleged mishandling of sensitive government materials after he left the White House in 2021 and Trump's role in the January 6th, 2021 Capitol insurrection.

"There is not an Attorney General of either party who would not have brought today's charges against the former president," Luttig tweeted of Merrick Garland, who appointed Smith last November after the Federal Bureau of Investigation recovered classified documents while executing a search warrant at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida on August 8th, 2022.

Trump "has dared, taunted, provoked, and goaded DOJ to prosecute him from the moment it was learned that he had taken these national security documents. On any given day for the past 18 months — doubtless up to and including the day before the indictment was returned — the former president could have avoided and prevented this prosecution. He would never have been indicted for taking these documents," Luttig wrote.

"But for whatever reason, he decided that he would rather be indicted and prosecuted," Luttig continued. "After a year and a half, he finally succeeded in forcing Jack Smith's appropriately reluctant hand, having left the Department no choice but to bring these charges lest the former president make a mockery of the Constitution and the Rule of Law."

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