Anti-Trump conservative warns of potential 'historic disaster' of former president's prosecution

Attorney Jack Goldsmith, who served as an assistant attorney general during President George W. Bush's administration and who has been a frequent critic of Donald Trump, is wary of prosecuting the former president for his efforts to illegally remain in power after losing the 2020 election to President Joe Biden.

Writing in the New York Times, Goldsmith argues that there is simply no way for the Department of Justice to effectively remove politics from its decision to prosecute Trump given that the attorney general overseeing the DOJ was appointed by the man who defeated Trump in 2020.

He also thinks that Jack Smith's conviction of Trump is far from assured given the novel issues raised in the indictment.

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"Mr. Smith’s indictment outlines a factually compelling but far from legally airtight case against Mr. Trump," he argues. "The case involves novel applications of three criminal laws and raises tricky issues of Mr. Trump’s intent, his freedom of speech and the contours of presidential power. If the prosecution fails (especially if the trial concludes after a general election that Mr. Trump loses), it will be a historic disaster."

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That said, Goldsmith also believes that Trump's actions after the 2020 election make his prosecution potentially justified, and he thinks that the Senate should have voted to convict him when it had the chance in February of 2021.

"Regrettably, in February 2021, the Senate passed up a chance to convict Mr. Trump and bar him from future office, after the House of Representatives rightly impeached him for his election shenanigans," he writes. "Had that occurred, Attorney General Merrick Garland may well have decided not to appoint a special counsel for this difficult case. But here we are."

Read the whole editorial at this link.