The political world has been anxiously awaiting news on whether Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg will charge Donald Trump with a crime related to hush money paid to Stormy Daniels.
But the feds may be closing in, too.
Special counsel Jack Smith is overseeing two federal investigations of Trump that could soon be nearing completion. The first revolves around Trump’s efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s election win, and the second, Trump’s handling of classified information.
The latter case may wrap up first. In a dramatic development last week, one of Trump’s own lawyers, Evan Corcoran, testified before a grand jury about his conversations with Trump.
Typically, such interactions would be shielded from investigators due to attorney-client privilege — but Smith’s team invoked the “crime-fraud exemption,” arguing that the conversations involved the commission of a crime. According to ABC News, the special counsel is arguing Trump “knowingly and deliberately misled his own attorneys about his retention of classified materials after leaving office.” Trump challenged that in court, but lost, and Corcoran’s testimony went forward on Friday.
Meanwhile, in Smith’s 2020 election investigation, district judges ordered testimony from several former Trump administration officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, rejecting claims of executive privilege. Further appeals are possible there, so it’s not clear how quickly this testimony will happen.
It may feel like Trump has been investigated for years, and that those investigations always lead nowhere. But there are reasons this time may be different. Trump has lost the sitting president’s immunity from prosecution (per Justice Department policy). And over a year ago, a federal judge opined that Trump’s effort to steal the election amounted to criminal lawbreaking.
Still, if a federal indictment does happen, it would not be the end of the story — far from it. A trial or trials would…
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