'Jack Smith isn’t about to flinch': Ex-prosecutor says Trump is playing chicken with DOJ
Watch: Jack Smith walks in stony silence as reporter tries to pry info on Trump probes
July 27, 2023
Donald Trump is playing "chicken" with special counsel Jack Smith, and that's a game the former president is going to lose, a former prosecutor said on Thursday.
Former U.S. attorney Joyce Vance, who spent 20 years as a federal prosecutor, posted about the looming indictment against Trump on her blog. Vance previously said Trump's strategy for dealing with the criminal classified documents case against him is to hold out hope that at least one juror is a die-hard supporter who will refuse to convict him.
Now, regarding Trump's potential indictment for efforts to overturn the 2020 election, she has a word of warning about Smith:
"I’ve been thinking about what it means to play chicken. The name has its origins in a game in which two drivers drive toward each other on a collision course. One must swerve, or both may die in the crash. But if one driver swerves and the other does not, the one who swerved will be called a "chicken," meaning a coward. You play the dangerous game to discover who is the bravest," the lawyer wrote. "This morning we woke up to reporting that suggests Donald Trump may be indicted by the special counsel as soon as today in the January 6-related investigation. Even if it takes a little longer than that, it seems clear we are headed that direction."
She added that Trump's strategy of playing chicken against Smith relies on Smith flinching, which won't happen.
"Donald Trump, who, for more years and in too many situations to count has gotten away with winning at chicken seems to be out of luck," she wrote on Thursday. "He still doesn’t seem to realize that Jack Smith isn’t about to flinch."