Jack Smith is 'holding a full house' in the game of nailing Trump: Jan. 6 investigator
Special counsel Jack Smith has a rock-solid legal strategy to pin down former President Donald Trump for his role in inciting violence at the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, as part of his broader 2020 election interference case, argued former House January 6 Select Committee investigator Tim Heaphy on MSNBC Thursday.
This comes as Politico reports that new filings indicate Smith's intent to use Trump's incitement in his legal strategy.
"So I always sense that talking to you was the closest I could get to talking to any of the federal prosecutors or investigators working on these cases," said anchor Nicolle Wallace. "And as their filings reveal more about them than anything else we're going to see until the trial itself, it's clear that is true. And in the same way that you present — the committee presented Stephen Ayres as a fact witness to Trump's call and response, call and response. And the granularity of when he said to go, they looked at their phones and they left. It seems that Jack Smith was watching or had the same instincts. Is that fair?"
"Yes, it's completely fair," said Heaphy. "Look, he's charged, Nicolle, with conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding. And part of way the official proceeding was obstructed was by the violence. By the chaos that ensued at the Capitol. That was a direct result of this incendiary rhetoric about the election being stolen. 'Fight like hell or you won't have a country anymore.' It is part and parcel of the charged offenses. It's not a separate offense."
"Judges have to parse whether or not there's a reason to admit evidence of other criminal conduct beyond that which is charged in any case," Heaphy continued. "That is a rule, 404(b). This is not that. The evidence of what happened at the Capitol is substantive evidence of the president's attempt to disrupt the joint session. It was in fact disrupted by those people who said they were there because they believe the president's rhetoric about the election and because they thought he invited them."
"So Jack Smith here is holding a full house on this motion," added Heaphy. "But more broadly on using all the evidence gathered in those blue-collar cases at the Capitol is direct evidence in the case against the former president."
Watch the video below or at the link here.
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