Why Trump should brace for 'much more serious charges' in Georgia probe: journalist

Appearing on MSNBC's "Way Too Early" with host Jonathan Lemire, a visibly pleased Palm Beach State Attorney Dave Aronberg praised special counsel Jack Smith for moving the 7-count federal indictment of Donald Trump to Florida instead of Washington D.C., calling it a "gangster move."

Speaking with the host, the prosecutor claimed no one saw the indictments coming out of a Florida grand jury and praised the DOJ for keeping it under wraps until the last minute.

As Aronberg explained, by filing the indictments in Florida, Smith avoided having to deal with Trump's lawyers delating the case by arguing for a change of venue by saying they couldn't get a fair trial in the nation's capital where the former president is highly unpopular.

"You know, Washington, D.C. they voted 92% for Joe Biden to 5% for Donald Trump in 2020," he told the host. "In Palm Beach County they voted 43% for Donald Trump and Miami-Dade County they voted 46% for Donald Trump, so you can see why the jury pool is better for prosecutors in D.C."

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"Prosecutors have to bring charges against defendants in the jurisdiction where the crime took place," he continued. "It looks like the obstruction clearly took place at Mar-a-Lago in the Southern District of Florida as well as the espionage. And filing in South Florida eliminates Trump's inevitable venue challenges in court -- that could have undone the case, it would have delayed the case."

'It's because Jack Smith wanted the public to buy into this," he elaborated. "And i'm sure he bristles at accusations this is a political witch hunt and to show it is not political he wanted to go into a red state, Donald Trump's home state and get an indictment. It's a bit of a gangster move and will be harder to get a conviction, but not impossible."

Special counsel Jack Smith appears to have the upper hand so far in prosecuting Donald Trump, but legal experts say he still has significant hurdles to overcome before winning a conviction.

Based on what's known about the charges and the publicly available evidence, the special counsel appears to have compelling case against the former president, but that status and his status as the 2024 Republican presidential frontrunner complicates matters, and legal experts Norman Eisen, Andrew Weissmann and Joyce Vance wrote a column for the New York Times laying out the challenges.

Appearing on MSNBC just hours after it was reported that Donald Trump is on the receiving end of seven federal indictments related to special counsel Jack Smith's investigations, former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade explained that the espionage charge that is reportedly included will cripple a key Trump lawyer defense strategy.

Speaking with MSNBC's Jonathan Lemire on "Way Too Early," McQuade stated that, based on what she has heard about the still-sealed indictments, the inclusion of a charge tied to the Espionage Act takes Trump claim that the documents in question were declassified by him off the table.

"We know his explanations and justifications for having classified documents have changed quite a bit including the idea he just declassified them just by thinking about them,' Lemire prompted. "It also seems his defense is trotting out a strategy of prosecutorial misconduct noting this is a charge brought by the Department of Justice that was underneath the president of the United States, Joe Biden, who is Donald Trump's top rival for the White House next year. Walk us through the assessment of potential defenses, and do you think it could work?"