Special counsel 'very close' to indicting Trump in documents case: legal expert

Reacting to a report that Donald Trump was sharing highly sensitive government documents with visitors at his Bedminster resort, a former national security adviser to ex-vice president Mike Pence said she was very concerned but not overly surprised.

Appearing on MSNBNC with host Alex Witt, Olivia Troye pointed out that in her dealings with the former president who is now facing possible Espionage Act charges, he was very cavalier with sensitive information.

Reflecting on the new revelations that could bolster special counsel Jack Smith's federal investigation of Trump, Troye stated there were always concerns about the former president.

"I think Trump is seriously a very unstable and unfit leader," she told the MSNBC host. "He was very trivial when it came to matters of national security, and he did not have the grasp to understand the gravity of certain situations; the strategic understanding of what it meant internationally and regionally when some of these decisions were being discussed, and potentially being made."

"I'll say this, my own direct boss, Pence's national security advisor, General [Keith] Kellogg, played a significant role at times when talking Trump out of things when it comes to Iran," she added. "So when this reporting surfaced, I just said to myself, you know, colleagues of mine and I have been talking to each other about this when this classified doc situation surfaced. We said, 'What do you think it is?' And this was actually one of our bets, was it was related to possibly Iran because of his fixation with this whole scenario."

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Reacting to a report from NBC that a grand jury convened by special counsel Jack Smith looking into possible criminal actions committed by Donald Trump will meet this week, former prosecutor Glenn Kirschner issued a warning that the former president could possibly be put on trial after winning re-election which could be very problematic.

Stating that would be uncharted territory, Kirschner raised the specter of a re-elected Trump attempting to get his prosecution shut down.

Speaking with MSNBC host Jen Psaki, Kirschner said the time between a grand jury indictment and a trial can take a year, thus putting a Trump trial uncomfortably close to election day 2024 and beyond.

"I want to ask you something on the timeline as former FBI Director James Comey said, because he indicated that there could be a rush to try to get these indictments out, if indictments are going to be made, in order to finish the trials before the election. Do you think that timeline is possible?" host Psaki asked.

"Yeah, the timing scares me a little bit, Jen," Kirschner admitted. "Because the Speedy Trial Act in federal court says that from the day you are indicted until the day you are supposed to go to trial, 70 days. Do we ever take a federal case to trial in 70 days? The answer is no, never, because the defense asks for continuances and there are motion schedules set."

"The rule of thumb is about a year from the time of indictment to the time of trial, so where does that put us?' he continued. "Summer of 2024, kind of on the cusp of the 2024 election."

"What keeps me up at night is the case is still pending against Donald Trump and hasn't gone to trial; Donald wins the White House and now, what? He orders his own prosecution dismissed. Now courtesy of the Office of Legal Counsel memo we now cannot prosecute a sitting criminal president. That is the stuff of nightmares and fiction novels," he warned.

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