'What a prosecutor does': Expert blasts CNN analyst’s claim Trump prosecutor 'rushed' charges

U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks during a Navy 250 Celebration in Norfolk, Virginia, U.S. October 5, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Although former U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) special counsel Jack Smith kept a low profile during the first eight months of Donald Trump's second presidency, that changed in a big way in October.

Smith, during a Wednesday, October 8 panel discussion at University College London in the U.K., argued that it was "absolutely ludicrous" to claim that he prosecuted Trump for political reasons in 2023 and 2024. And he was highly critical of the direction DOJ has been taking under U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Smith told others on the panel, "I worked in the department for years — Republican, Democrat, Republican. I was the acting U.S. attorney in the first Trump Administration in Tennessee. Nothing like what we see now has ever gone on."

During a Wednesday afternoon, October 15 appearance on CNN, former Palm Beach County, Florida prosecutor Dave Aronberg weighed in on Smith's comments as well as CNN legal analyst Elie Honig's criticism of the two Trump cases Smith prosecuted.

Honig argued that Smith made an effort to "rush the case and get Donald Trump tried artificially, quickly so he could get him tried before the 2024 election."

But Aronberg told CNN, "I disagree, and I have a lot of respect for Elie Honig. Jack Smith never even mentioned the election when he took the appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and was thwarted by the Court. The Court stepped in and said: no, we're going to put a hold on the January 6 prosecution in Washington, D.C. Jack Smith never mentioned the election in any of his briefs. He stayed out of politics, but he did want this case to be tried expeditiously. That's what a prosecutor does. There is nothing in Jack Smith's background that shows that he's political in any way."

Aronberg continued, "In fact, the criticism from the left has been that (former U.S. Attorney General) Merrick Garland was too timid and then waited too long to appoint an apolitical special prosecutor. So what was he supposed to do? I mean, was he supposed to wait it out and drag this on any further? I don't think Jack Smith should be criticized for going too quickly. I think Merrick Garland can be criticized for going too slowly. "

Aronberg noted that Smith "could have gone out and spoken about the case" but "said nothing." Smith, according to Aronberg, "knew that all this stuff would never go to trial because of the U.S. Supreme Court's intervention, which I'm sure he thought was inappropriate."

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