'Interesting twist' could lead to federal involvement in Trump Georgia investigation: legal expert

According to a former U.S. attorney, the possibility that Donald Trump could be hit with indictments from both Fulton County DA Fani Willis and special counsel Jack Smith at the same time could lead to Donald Trump rethinking his legal strategy.

Appearing on MSNBC's "The Katie Phang Show," legal analyst Joyce Vance explained that there is a little-known law that would permit the former president to go venue shopping in an effort to find a friendlier courtroom.

With Willis expected to go before a grand jury and seek a bill of indictment against Trump for election tampering in the 2020 presidential election, and Smith ramping up his investigation into both the Jan. 6 insurrection and the stolen government documents recovered from Mar-a-Lago, the ex-president could be slammed with multiple indictments at the same time.

Speaking with Vance, host Phang asked if that would create any complications.

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"There is no concern they can't coexist at the same time," the former DOJ official explained. "There are cases where you see defendants indicted by multiple jurisdictions. There's some procedural issues where judges have to consult with each other on the timing, there are questions about when a defendant goes into custody pre-trial -- which jurisdiction will take that defendant into trial -- but those are situations that the legal system is well accustomed to dealing with. I don't see that as a problem."

"There's an interesting twist though, Katie," she warned. "There's a little-known statute that permits a federal official who is indicted in state court to remove that indictment into the federal court. That, here, would be the Northern District of Georgia. That would be a strategic consideration for the former president; which jury would you rather have? Fulton County or the Northern District of Georgia, which is a large jurisdiction that leans a little bit more conservative, maybe a lot more conservative than the county does, if you think political beliefs influenced jury outcomes."

"So it's possible we could end up seeing, to some extent, federal involvement in some of those cases," she added. "This is the kind of strategy that Trump likes to pursue. He likes anything that injects uncertainty and delay into the proceedings, and a removal into federal court will certainly accomplish that goal here."

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MSNBC 02 18 2023 08 15 56youtu.be