One week before the presidential inauguration, Jack Smith issued a “Final Report” concerning the January 6th prosecution of Donald Trump and his co-defendants.
Presumably, the report is supposed to convince the public that Trump is guilty as charged. Instead, it provides evidence of Smith’s incompetence and bias.
Trump’s attorneys, John Lauro and Todd Blanche, issued a strong rebuttal (Addendum to Final Report) that excoriates this “out-of-control private citizen” for spending more than $20 million to violate “fundamental norms regarding the presumption of innocence …” As they note, “… the Justice Manual prohibits prosecutors from publicly declaring a defendant’s guilt prior to a jury verdict …” Yet, that is exactly what Smith did. It is evident from his concluding statement:
… the (Special Prosecutor’s) Office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial.
Why bother with trials and juries when there are prosecutors who give us the answer in advance?
In addition to trampling on Trump’s Constitutional right to a presumption of innocence, Smith ignored the Presidential Transition Act, which bars DOJ officials from interfering as a president-elect prepares to assume the responsibilities of office.
Here is a review of some other issues in the report and in the underlying information sources:
ALLEGATION THAT TRUMP INCITED VIOLENCE
Smith suggests that Trump wanted to create a riot (or possibly an insurrection). He says that the president-elect “resorted to a series of criminal efforts … to direct an angry mob to the United States Capitol to obstruct the congressional certification.” Indeed, Smith uses the words “riot” and “rioter” about 85 times in his report.
Given his obsession with the Capitol riot, Smith needs to explain why two essential names are totally absent from his 146-page report: “Milley” and “Miller.”
Perhaps those names are missing because the words of Gen. Mark Milley and Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller clearly prove that Trump had no violent intentions.
(See report of House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight.)
GENERAL MARK MILLEY, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: “(January 3, 2021) The President just says, ‘Hey, look at this. There’s going to be a large amount of protesters here on the 6th, make sure that you have sufficient National Guard or Soldiers to make sure it’s a safe event.’” [Apparently, Milley disobeyed that order.]
CHRISTOPHER MILLER, ACTING SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: “The President commented that they were going to need 10,000 troops the following day…” [Miller claimed that he did not take the order seriously.]
Although the public did not know of those quotations until recently, Smith has known of them for years.
In addition, the Special Prosecutor bemoans Trump’s “pattern of using social media” (tweets) to publicly attack state and federal officials, judges, and election workers … ”
According to Smith, this led to “specific and graphic threats” about a witness and his family.
The concern for this witness is admirable, but Smith does not even mention the rhetoric that nearly caused Trump to be assassinated — twice. That rhetoric would include reckless accusations of Nancy Pelosi, Liz Cheney, and Mr. Smith, himself. Will his “Final Report” lead to a third assassination attempt?
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