Jack Smith is looking into two big issues involving Donald Trump – and it could make some serious history: We learned earlier this week that Jack Smith, the Special Counsel appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to look into both President Donald Trump’s classified document retention and his role in the January 6 insurrection, has sought testimony from Evan Corcoran, an attorney for Donald Trump, indicating that may have been a crime that was committed that is not shielded by attorney/client privilege.
Now, we’ve learned more about what Smith’s office is up to.
CNN reported Thursday that Smith is “locked in at least eight secret court battles,” aimed at getting more information into both the documents and January 6 sides of the case.
Those cases, per the report, are sealed, but “could lead courts to shape the law around the presidency, separation of powers and attorney-client confidentiality in ways they’ve never done before.”
Most of them entail potential witnesses who are challenging the need to testify. At least one, former Vice President Mike Pence’s push not to testify, has been made public.
This has been a continuing theme in legal proceedings related to Trump in the last several years, as the former president and different associates have fought subpoenas, from courts, the Robert Mueller-era Special Counsel’s office, and later from the first impeachment inquiry and the January 6 Committee.
Such battles have taken place in former investigations, in everything from Whitewater to the Mueller investigation, but the current case involves more simultaneous court battles than have typically taken place in such situations.
“About half a dozen cases are still ongoing in court, either before Chief Judge Beryl Howell or in the appeals court above her, the DC Circuit. Most appear to follow the typical arc of miscellaneous cases that arise during grand jury investigations, where prosecutors sometimes use the court to enforce their subpoenas,” CNN said of the cases.
Pence’s case in particular, the report said, “may raise novel questions about the protections around the vice presidency.” Testifying, if he runs for president, may place Pence in the extraordinary position of running against the same person he’s testifying against.
“I think we are in extraordinary times. Part of it is I think President Trump continues to assert these theories long after they’ve been batted away by the court,” former White House Counsel Neil Eggleston told CNN.
Donald Trump, for his part, ripped Smith in a Truth Social post this week.
“Radical Left (Trump hating!) Special “Prosecutor” Jack Smith is leaking to the Fake News Media like a sieve,” Trump said in the post Wednesday.
“He is going absolutely crazy trying to nab the political candidate who is way ahead of his ‘boss’ in the polls, and won the 2020 Presidential Election, except for the fact that it was RIGGED. He’s got a job to do, and is working hard to scare & intimidate witnesses, even lawyers who have never seen such antics before. He should be looking at Election Fraud, & who SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN!!!”
The news also broke on Wednesday that Smith’s office had subpoenaed Mark Meadows, who was White House Chief of Staff at the end of the Trump Administration, including on January 6. Meadows received the subpoena in January, the report said.
The Meadows subpoena, CNN said, “marks the latest significant step in the special counsel’s investigation into Trump’s role in seeking to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election.” The report also said that the Meadows move could set off another legal battle over whether he can be compelled to testify.
And while the Meadows subpoena concerns the January 6 side of the probe, the analysis added that Meadows “also may be of interest in the documents investigation,” since he was among Trump’s designees to the National Archives.
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Expertise and Experience: Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
Ali
February 16, 2023 at 12:24 pm
Put him in jail already.
Hiram B Cooper Jr
February 24, 2023 at 4:32 pm
Put the greatest President we ever had in jail.
Why don’t we put the one trying to destroy America.
Joyce Farley
February 25, 2023 at 9:19 am
I will never vote for a liar! He has tried to ruin our democracy.He should be in jail!!
Daniel burt Stallworth
February 26, 2023 at 10:03 am
I pulled up the latest for Donald Trump Says Anybody That Is Totally.Bladimir Putin and all corrupt people are geniuses. Someday the MAGA Republicans will see him for what he is and what they are and know. And what you tried to do to America is wrong we will never give up our democracy for what you think your America should be he is a joke he is past tense he will never be president again lock him up. But in short, no president or no congressman or senator that does really anything for the people anymore in my opinion all they do is do what the special interest wants them to do, and I believe that most are bought off.
Harvey Ventrello
February 27, 2023 at 9:08 pm
It amazes me that the American people are so gullible.
The socialistic liberals have so infiltrated our system of government that we are believing their lies. The judicial system we cherish is being distorted before your eyes and the American people have no frame of reference to see the decline. Just like the Roman Empire we are following in similar ways of their fall. Even the lawyers and judges are blinded by hatred and social propaganda that they have lost the sight for fair equal justice.
C m
February 28, 2023 at 7:11 am
We are a republic not a democracy you brained washed idiots ! Read the constitution! We The People !
American-Made
February 28, 2023 at 2:06 pm
I am not a Republican or a Democrat. I am an American. I am not a Trump supported or antagonist. I am an American. If any person is guilty of a felony then they must face the music. Problem here is that we are reacting to a CNN report. CNN people…the worst ‘news’ entity on earth. ust my opinion.
American-Made
February 28, 2023 at 2:07 pm
You will never “vote for a liar?” Thenit is a sure bet that you have never voted.
r. angelo
February 28, 2023 at 2:53 pm
so many stupid people. why doesn’t anyone besides trump himself talk about his accomplishments while in office. lunch box could have left everything in place that trump put into effect and had 4 years of prosperity. during that time if something happened with certain policies, then make some changes. i am 77 years old and i don’t remember a worse president but obama is a close second. there is a well known archaeologist that stated that certain cultures that practice exclusivism will never be satisfied. they will always find an enemy that is a threat to them and their power. this is what the democratic party is.
Mike Huston
February 28, 2023 at 3:06 pm
Oh, great–we are going to shred attorney-client privilege to try to take down the Orange Man. Trump had people continue defending him after they were faced with 8 hours being grilled by an hostile congress. The people who were given harsh punishments for failing to provide ADEQUATE evidence to the witch hunt did not have law degrees. Trump’s personal attorney is a sonofabitch who is going to be a lot harder to break than the average person that congress grilled. If MSNBC spends 2 years calling him worse than Hitler, it doesn’t change the fact that Trump is just an effective, egomaniacal asshole.
Are you going to write an article about unpaid parking tickets that are going to get him sent to a FEMA camp next?
RAMON MORALES
February 28, 2023 at 6:42 pm
What is going on? with America, we have someone trying to sell our country to enemies, people selling our secrets, Documents marked Secret and confidential scattered in peoples’ garage. Taxpayers’ money being spent on issues not concerning us and several countries threatening us if we try to defend others and all under this administration, But noooo…. We are going to go after Trump he forgot to wear his red tie today that is a crime. Stop the B….S, He is by far one of the best presidents this country ever had, no one messed with him the only American president to enter North Korea. All politics aside he cared enough to visit the people of Ohio. Others didn’t go because they were not invited. Imagine that! No offense to anyone.
Dan
March 1, 2023 at 8:46 am
I’m voting for for Trump get off his back and lets save America
michael w kilmer
March 1, 2023 at 10:24 pm
i would like to know what drugs they are on who thinks that bozo trump will do anything to help the average american . the only ones he cares about is his corrupt buddies.
Vincent McAfee
March 2, 2023 at 5:52 pm
Usually billionaires don’t make the multiple mistakes that Trump continually creates. I am still wondering how he gets away with so many mistakes. It could be the reason he has had so many counselors on his staff. Looking in his past is looking at a long trail of court cases. And he was telling us that Putin is a genius and writes love letters to the North Korean leader and likes China. These are all communist countries. Ask yourself, how does he treat our allies. During the Vietnam War Russia was the biggest contributors of weapons and air fire. You voted for a communist just by his actions.
John Doeman
March 3, 2023 at 3:00 pm
It’s time the former President faced a Court of Law for all of his likely criminal actions. A Trial is a “search for the truth” and this nation needs a reckoning on whether the actions of former President Trump were criminal or not, once and for all. The hard evidence of highly likely criminal activities on his part in the public domain is convincing, so he needs to face a jury of average Americans to decide his fate. If they find him Not Guilty, so be it. If they find him Guilty, than his fate is sealed. Either way, the nation needs that finality on his years in public life.