Any expectation that former President Donald Trump will stand trial on federal criminal charges before the 2024 presidential primary season may have been scuttled by a possible tactical misstep from special counsel Jack Smith.
The New York Times reported that Smith’s team has been vigorously investigating Trump’s multi-million fundraising, which was ostensibly intended to finance efforts to uncover fraud in the 2020 election, even when Trump and his team knew claims of fraud were false.
Smith may have doomed his chances of holding Trump accountable before voters head to the polls.
If accurate, Smith’s prosecutorial instinct to pursue his investigation wherever the facts lead — while ordinarily laudable — could become a recipe for delay in this case. By failing to keep his eye on the calendar, Smith may have doomed his chances of holding Trump accountable before voters head to the polls for the 2024 presidential election.
The Times article, citing three people familiar with the matter, reported that federal prosecutors “led by Smith” have been “drilling down” on whether Trump and his aides committed wire fraud by raising nearly $250 million to challenge President Joe Biden’s election.
Some knowledgeable commentators have cheered Smith for expanding the scope of his investigation. But I fear that this view overlooks the inevitable costly delay caused by Smith’s new direction.
Trump is under investigation by multiple prosecutors, and has already been indicted by the Manhattan district attorney on multiple counts of falsifying business records. But Smith’s federal investigations should be of primary importance, as only those probes can comprehensively redress the illegal efforts to undermine our democracy on Jan. 6 and the national security risk of retaining classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
The diversion of time to investigate financial fraud is not inconsequential if it leads to further delays in the ultimate decision of whether Trump should…
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