Legal experts 'expect decisions soon' from special counsel on indicting Donald Trump

Former Vice President Mike Pence’s “historic” testimony before a federal grand jury investigating Donald Trump‘s efforts surrounding the January 6, 2021 insurrection and to overturn the 2020 election should allow Special Counsel Jack Smith to reach a decision “soon” on whether or not to charge the ex-president.

“Expect decisions soon from Jack Smith. Very little reason to dawdle now, particularly on MAL charges,” said Andrew Weissman, referring to Trump’s unlawful retention and refusal to return classified documents he kept at Mar-a-Lago. Weissman is a former FBI General Counsel, served two decades at the Dept. of Justice, and was the lead prosecutor during Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

“Another historic benchmark: Donald Trump’s VP, Mike Pence, just testified in the grand jury about the crimes of his former boss,” said Glenn Kirschner, a federal prosecutor for 30 years who is now an MSNBC legal analyst. “Take it from this old prosecutor-Pence’s testimony is sharply incriminating of Trump & moves the needle further in the direction of a Trump indictment.”

“You want to hear it through Pence’s eyes,” said former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance on MSNBC Thursday afternoon, explaining that Smith needed to understand Trump’s actions as his vice president saw them. She noted it’s likely “close” to the end of Smith’s investigation, but hedged, “I’m not sure that I would want to go that far,” as saying it’s the end of the process, before going to the grand jury to ask for an indictment. Vance noted there are “procedural” issues to address, including being able to hand over discovery and “negotiating” with witnesses to ensure they want to testify.

MSNBC anchor and chief legal correspondent Ari Melber offered additional details on why Pence’s testimony is so critical, including that with it Jack Smith can now make decisions not only on charging Trump, but others who may have been involved.