'Very good news' for Jack Smith as Arizona indictment puts 'pressure' on Trump allies
The new indictments in Arizona against several of former President Donald Trump's allies is not just bad news for them, but a significant opportunity for special counsel Jack Smith in his prosecution of former President Donald Trump for the 2020 election plot, former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said on MSNBC Wednesday.
The newly dropped indictment names a number of Republican officials and Trump strategists in an alleged criminal scheme to stop the electoral count in Arizona, including former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Trump-aligned lawyers John Eastman, Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis, and Christina Bobb, and Trump strategists Boris Epshteyn and Mike Roman — many of whom were also charged in the Georgia election racketeering case. 11 GOP staffers in Arizona were also charged.
"If I'm Jack Smith right now and see this, I'm doing what right now, other than pulling my hair out that the Supreme Court is holding up my case?" asked anchor Joy Reid.
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"Yeah," said Weissmann. "For him — look, he has a very, very strong case, otherwise he wouldn't have brought it."
The important thing, Weissman said, is that Smith "needs to get a trial date. The Supreme Court is standing between him and accountability. But this is all very good news because this is additional pressure on these people to cooperate. And it cannot be taken away if he becomes president."
One name in all this, Weissmann added, is significant in its absence: Kenneth Chesebro, another Trump attorney who was charged in Georgia.
"If Chesebro — there's a reason he has not been indicted," said Weissmann. "Has to be that he's cooperating. And so that is another potential witness for you in the federal case if it ever goes."
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