'Two very sharp blades' pointing at Jack Smith following ruling: ex-federal prosecutor

Former federal prosecutor Ankush Khardori wrote in a Tuesday Politico article that following the Supreme Court's Monday ruling "that a president enjoys absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for "official" acts committed in office," special counsel has "a narrow path to move forward."

Khadori also noted that "the ruling's 'immediate effect will be to exponentially shrink the odds of a trial before November."

Similarly, Axios reports that because the court did not specify "which Jan. 6-related communications fall within" what's considered "official acts," several former prosecutors emphasized that Smith faces a "painstaking process" ahead.

READ MORE: 'Damning': Experts slam SCOTUS for 'obviously and unduly' protecting Trump from Jack Smith

Ex-federal prosecutor Chris Mattei told Axios that the ruling was "like a sword with two very sharp blades," explaining, "One that carves out a huge amount of conduct from being prosecutable — and another which then slashes away at the type of evidence that the government could use to prosecute that small band of conduct that can now be called unofficial conduct."

Neama Rahmani, also a former federal prosecutor, told the news outlet that "the prosecution will seek to prove that Trump's communications such as those with state officials and former Vice President Pence constitute campaigning."

Rahmani raised the question, "Is this campaigning or is this him auditing the election as part of his duties as Commander in Chief?" emphasizing, That's dubious, in my opinion, but that would be the argument."

READ MORE: 'Room to maneuver': Ex-federal prosecutor details Jack Smith’s narrow path forward

Axios' full report is available here.