As soon as Special Prosecutor Jack Smith announced his Jan. 6 indictment of former President Donald Trump on Tuesday, legal experts and media pundits were excitedly weighing in on both sides of the great partisan divide.
Lost in the sound and fury were two obvious points: The Department of Justice under the Biden Administration had just 1) dropped yet another federal indictment against its top political opponent and 2) had done so amidst a corruption scandal ensnaring the entire Biden family that one prominent U.S. law professor billed the "greatest" in American history.
The timing of Smith's indictments and additional charges stand out in the accompanying timeline.
In fact, the latest Rasmussen poll found that a majority of American voters were seeing the growing list of Biden scandals to be Watergate II whereas the non-stop list of charges and accusations against Trump may be inducing sleep.
Asked if, like Nixon, Joe Biden has used “the weaponization of government to benefit his family and deny Congress the ability to have the oversight,” 58% agreed, 43% strongly, and 35% disagreed.
Special Prosecutor Jack Smith announced on Tuesday that former President Donald Trump was indicted on charges he conspired to defraud the country and attempted to prevent the peaceful transfer of presidential power to Joe Biden.
Trump was indicted on several felonies, including one for which death may be a penalty: 18 U.S.C § 241, “Conspiracy Against Rights,” includes a penalty of up to 10 years in federal prison. But it adds that if death results from the actions covered under this provision, the offender may be executed.
The Federalist's John Daniel Davidson noted that Biden’s DOJ had taken the "unprecedented step of indicting former President Donald Trump — Biden’s chief rival in the upcoming 2024 election — for repeatedly expressing his opinion that the last election was stolen, rigged, and unfair. It’s an opinion millions of Americans share, and to which they are unquestionably entitled thanks to the First Amendment. That includes Trump, who has said repeatedly (and recently) that the 2020 election was stolen. He’ll probably keep saying it until his dying day, and he has every right to do so."
"Simply put, this indictment is nothing more than a declaration of war against American voters and their constitutional right to free speech," Davidson added.
Smith’s indictment of Trump “basically just accuses him of disinformation. This is a disinformation indictment” and charges “many” things that are protected by the First Amendment, George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said.
Turley added: “The most jarring thing about this indictment is that it basically just accuses him of disinformation. This is a disinformation indictment. It says that you were spreading falsehoods, that you were undermining the integrity of the election. That’s all part of the First Amendment. And I think that courts will look skeptically, he might have a fair shot with a D.C. jury and maybe a D.C. judge. He’s going to have a harder time with the courts. And this reminds me of sort of the [McDonnell] complaint, where he took the Virginia governor, got a conviction, and then it was unanimously overturned by the Supreme Court. It is a bridge too far.”
Davidson added: “The idea that our Justice Department can indict someone, especially the sitting president’s main political rival, over speech that’s protected by the First Amendment is simply insane. It puts us firmly into banana republic territory, where tinpot dictators jail their political opponents ahead of election day to ensure their 'reelection.' ”
Fox News host Will Cain tweeted: "Free speech has been indicted. Read this section of the indictment. It acknowledges that Trump has the right to say, even falsely, the results were fraudulent and claim he won the election. That’s protected by the First Amendment. But the indictment says he can’t lie about election fraud. So they must prove Trump didn’t believe his speech. And then, I would think, they’d need to indict every politician who lies (need to build more jails) about election results (Clinton, Kerry, Abrams). The DOJ has criminalized politics. And because, who is to decide the truth, criminalized free speech."
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton issued the following statement: "The Biden administration has left the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution behind with its latest indictment of President Trump for daring to dispute the 2020 presidential election, as is his God-given right as a president, a citizen, and a candidate under state, federal and constitutional law.
"This sham indictment is perfectly consistent with the partisan and political abuse I suffered at the hands of Jack Smith’s prosecutors for hours as they argued with me before their grand jury using Democratic talking points on the election controversy.
"Let’s be blunt: This indictment is a naked threat and act of intimidation by the Democratic Party against any and all their political opponents. The message from the Biden regime is: 'We will put you in jail if you dispute elections.' A free and fair 2024 election is officially impossible.
"And, of course, Joe Biden and his political appointee Merrick Garland at the Justice Department want to distract from the conclusive evidence of Biden’s personal corruption by trying to jail and turn Trump into a political prisoner.
"It is well past time for Congress to do everything possible under the law to undo this attempt to wreck our republican form of government.
"Let’s hope the courts finally step up and shut down this unprecedented prosecutorial abuse.
"In the meantime, Judicial Watch will continue to expose and hold accountable the criminal elements in the Biden administration seeking to undo our republican form of government."
Other reactions:
We've been subjected to a lot of outrageous political double standards, but the one that says Democrats can deny - and even actively undermine - elections all they want, but Republicans go to jail for doing the same, might just be the one that tears the Republic apart.
— John Hayward (@Doc_0) August 2, 2023
The newest indictment reads exactly like a jointly written monologue by Joe Scarborough, Chris Hayes, Lawrence O'Donnell and Jen Psaki. It's like Jack Smith randomly borrowed from the MSNBC scripts from over the past two years and just mixed it like a #Resistance ad lib. https://t.co/uMDqAFnEds
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) August 2, 2023
Guess that rules you out. Biden is shredding the Constitution and imprisoning his opposition, and you’re taking potshots at Trump. https://t.co/gKHlYid5l3
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) August 2, 2023
Jesse Watters reading through the newest Trump indictment LIVE is pure gold:
"Lastly, they're saying that lying about an election is illegal. Well then Hillary, LOCK HER UP!" DANA PERINO: "John Kerry Too." 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/38YBfsE747 — Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) August 1, 2023
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