Special counsel Jack Smith took a meeting with attorneys representing former President Donald Trump earlier this year and reportedly sat in stone-cold silence while they pleaded with him not to indict their client.
Politico reports that ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl's new book on Trump's post-presidential life claims that Trump attorneys Todd Blanche and John Lauro met with Smith's team over the summer and gave them a list of reasons why charging Trump with crimes related to his efforts to illegally remain in power would be a mistake.
According to Karl, Smith sat through the presentation without saying a word.
"As Lauro spoke, the prosecutors took notes, but they said nothing," Karl reports. "Smith waited until Lauro was done speaking and then, without commenting on what he just heard, he bid the Trump lawyers farewell. According to sources with direct knowledge of the meeting, Smith did not ask a single question. And aside from the pleasantries at the start of the meeting (including the offer of a glass of water) and the goodbye at the end, neither Smith nor the two prosecutors said anything at all.”
Just four hours later, Smith and his team would slap Trump with criminal charges related to his efforts to obstruct the United States government from retrieving top-secret government documents from his Mar-a-Lago resort, and charges related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election would come less than a week later.
Trump has repeatedly railed against Smith on his Truth Social website, frequently referring to the special prosecutor as "deranged."
