Jack Smith’s Filing Is a Win for Trump: Ex-Prosecutor

Jack Smith’s 165-page evidence filing in Donald Trump’s election fraud case is a “big win” for the former president’s legal team, an attorney has said.
Speaking as co-host of Stay Tuned With Preet Bharara, former prosecutor Joyce Vance said that Trump now knows who is going to testify against him and the layout of the case.
“This brief puts Trump’s team in a better position to respond, to make their own immunity arguments, and to prepare their case,” Vance said.
She also said that the October 2 filing will not affect Trump’s chances in the presidential election. She was responding to CNN Senior Legal Analyst, former federal and state prosecutor, Elie Honig, who wrote in his legal blog that Smith’s October 2 filing was a “cheap shot,” generating headlines and potentially influencing voters and members of the jury pool.
Vance said: “This is, in fact, a win for Trump. And I guarantee you that nobody in the public who spent their time reading 165 pages in detail didn’t have their mind already made up about this election, right? The broad contours here, they are well known. This is not impacting the election.”
Newsweek sought email comment from Honig and from Trump’s attorney on Wednesday.
Republican presidential nominee Trump is accused of conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights in connection with an alleged pressure campaign on state officials to reverse the 2020 election results.
The former president has denied all charges against him and repeatedly said he is the victim of a political witch hunt. He has accused Smith of attempting to interfere in the 2024 presidential election by prosecuting him.
Honig wrote that the allegations contained in Smith’s filing may have prejudiced the potential jury pool in Washington, D.C.
Honig also noted that Smith filed the October 2 allegations publicly, “generating national headlines.” “You know who’ll see those allegations? The voters, sure—and also members of the jury pool,” he wrote.
Newsweek sought email comment from Honig Wednesday.
On their podcast, both Vance and Bharara strongly objected to this characterization of Smith’s evidence brief.
Bharara said he doesn’t believe that Smith “walks on water” but said that Honig’s accusations were not fair.
He objected to Honig’s claim that Smith was on an “obsessive quest” to get Trump and said that Smith was simply trying to get justice for the American public.
Vance agreed and said Smith was “keeping his head down” and trying to obtain justice for the public.