Attorney says Jack Smith's 'reckless gamble' could end his campaign

According to a legal expert, special counsel Jack Smith has embarked on a "reckless gamble" in the federal election obstruction case against Donald Trump, which could lead to its dismissal.

In a blog post for Cafe, Elie Honig, a legal commentator and former federal and state prosecutor, stated that Smith's decision to maintain the allegations regarding Trump's communications with Vice President Mike Pence in the aftermath of the Supreme Court's immunity decision could "derail" the January 6 case, as Newsweek reported.

Smith's case was at risk of being overturned when the Supreme Court issued a landmark decision in July, determining that Trump had at least putative presidential immunity for official acts performed while in office.

Trump received a new superseding indictment from Smith.

Revised Indictment

The indictment featured four federal charges where former president pleaded not guilty, but it omitted allegations that Trump forced the Department of Justice to accept his false assertions that voting fraud rigged the 2020 election.

The updated report maintained that Trump pressed Pence to not certify 2020 election results on January 6, 2021, when the vice president performed his ceremonial Senate duty.

Smith's "defiant" pursuit of Trump's interactions with Pence after the Supreme Court's immunity rule "likely will hurt his own cause, and perhaps end it altogether," according to Honig.

In the post, titled "His Reckless Gamble Could Tank the Jan. 6 Case," Honig wrote that the nation's highest court had ruled that "any conduct that falls outside the president's core Constitutional duties but still within his official powers is 'presumptively' immune—meaning we start by assuming it's immune, unless the prosecutor can prove clearly that the conduct had nothing to do with the job itself. Definitionally, it's an uphill climb for Smith."

From the Attorney

"As an example of conduct that falls within this middle ground, the Court cited Trump's interactions with Vice President Mike Pence, including Trump's pressing of Pence to reject electoral votes on January 6.

The attorney went on to explain some of the context, given that this will likely be a highly litigious case, regardless of the outcome: "Given the Court's instruction, it would've been safest for Smith to remove the Pence allegations from his new indictment," Honig continued.

"But instead, Smith left the Pence allegations largely intact, tweaked at the margins."

"Even if Judge [Tanya] Chutkan does agree with Smith that the Pence allegations can remain in the case, Trump gets to appeal that determination, before trial. So the Pence question, among others, will likely end up right back at the Supreme Court," the attorney added.