Special counsel Jack Smith could move to start trying former President Donald Trump in the 2020 election case prior to election day regardless of the outcome of a key forthcoming decision from the Supreme Court, former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andy McCarthy said Saturday.
In the coming days, the Supreme Court is expected to clarify the extent of Trump’s immunity from prosecution for acts he committed in office, but his legal team has already conceded conduct that would not be covered by immunity claims either way, McCarthy explained during a Saturday appearance on Fox News’ “Cavuto Live.” Accordingly, Smith and his team could still push to start the 2020 election case to trial ahead of election day on the basis of those concessions, even if the Supreme Court interprets the extent of Trump’s presidential immunity to be robust and broad, McCarthy asserted.
“Andy, that’s the distinction that’s really important here,” guest host Jackie DeAngelis said to McCarthy. “Some say the Supreme Court case for Trump is a long shot, that it’s just not possible for him to win. Others say even if he does win, in some ways he’ll lose because of the parameters that will probably come with it.”
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“Jackie, to the extent that he’s been able to push this off as far as he has,” McCarthy said of Trump. “His goal, of course, is to try to get the case, the prosecution against him in Washington, pushed off beyond Election Day because if he wins the election and runs the Justice Department, he can basically get rid of the case.”
“I don’t – what I think is going to happen here is that – is that Jack Smith is going to have a case when the Supreme Court rules, whether it’s a robust or a more narrow immunity that they find, because he did, Trump’s lawyers did make concessions in the oral argument that a lot of the conduct in the indictment is not susceptible of an immunity claim,” McCarthy continued. “So if Smith is willing to go on trial with just that stuff, just the stuff that the Trump people even admit is not covered by immunity, I think he could try to push the case to trial prior to Election Day.”
The Supreme Court is expected to decide soon whether Trump is immune from prosecution for official acts conducted during his time in office, and the justices have signaled that they may be inclined to hand Trump at least a partial victory in their ruling. McCarthy more comprehensively laid out his position that America may not have seen the last of the Trump trials ahead of Election Day in a Wednesday opinion piece for National Review.
The trial for Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election has been delayed due to factors including scheduling issues and the forthcoming Supreme Court decision. Trump’s lawyers have alleged that Smith and his team have attempted to accelerate the case’s timeline to put Trump on trial ahead of November’s presidential election.
