Former President Donald Trump is already facing two criminal indictments — a state one in Manhattan, for falsification of business records, and a federal one in Florida, for Espionage Act and obstruction offenses after stowing highly classified national defense information at his Mar-a-Lago country club.
And he is widely expected to be indicted with another round of federal charges in connection with special counsel Jack Smith's investigation of the January 6 attack.
But this third indictment could be "uniquely dangerous" for Trump in a way the other two are not, argued Greg Walters for VICE News. And the reason is simple: a more difficult jury pool.
"An indictment is about to drop in a city that voted overwhelmingly for Trump’s Democratic opponents — including 92 percent for President Joe Biden in 2020, and 91 percent for Hillary Clinton in 2016," wrote Walters. Furthermore, juries in this same region, which was affected most directly and devastatingly by the mob assault on the U.S. Capitol, have been cranking out convictions for the perpetrators: "Over 700 people have been found guilty for their actions in the insurrection as of June 2023, although the majority of them entered guilty pleas and never went to trial."
READ MORE: 'Wow--wow!' CNN host stunned after Chris Sununu makes bold prediction about Biden's 2024 campaign
Not only that, but, noted former federal prosecutor Gene Rossi, the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse, where the trial would be held, overlooks the Capitol itself: “Every day of the trial, your jury is literally staring at the scene of the crime. That has a profound effect, subtly if not overtly, on the psyche of those who will judge Donald Trump.”
Trump was involved with several plots to throw out the results of the 2020 election, even calling Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and demanding he "find" extra votes — a matter which is being separately investigated by the District Attorney of Fulton County and could lead to additional state charges. He also urged crowds of people to a protest in D.C., that occurred immediately before the attack. He has denied any wrongdoing and even continues to suggest baselessly that the election was stolen from him.
Among the charges reportedly being considered against Trump are conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstruction of an official proceeding, and "conspiracy against rights" — a 19th-century law originally used to stop terrorist violence against emancipated slaves.
