‘A Gift to Trump’: Toobin Says SCOTUS News Means Ex-President Won’t Face Federal Trial Before Election Day
https://conservativebrief.com/a-gift-to-trump-81479/
Legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin is warning Democrats that the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday gave former President Donald Trump “a gift.”
Toobin stated on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Trump may only have to appear in court for one of his four trials before Election Day because the court decided to hear arguments in late April regarding whether or not the former president enjoys complete immunity.
The “ruling is a gift to Trump, even if the Justices ultimately rule against him on immunity. A decision in late June makes a D.C. trial on 1/6 issues nearly impossible. 3/25 NYC trial in the Stormy case will be the only Trump criminal trial before Election Day,” wrote Toobin.
Politico’s Kyle Cheney also noted, “The court’s decision to keep the pretrial proceedings frozen is a blow to special counsel Jack Smith’s effort to bring Trump to trial this year. Smith has charged Trump with four felonies stemming from his bid to subvert the 2020 presidential election.”
Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, argued this week that the Supreme Court’s decision to consider former President Donald Trump’s presidential immunity was a “real victory.”
The Supreme Court declared on Wednesday that it would hear the case following Trump’s request for a stay of an appeals court decision that disregarded his claims of immunity from prosecution. Attorneys for Trump charged that Special Counsel Jack Smith was trying the case ahead of the 2024 presidential election with “a political motive.”
“The real victory here for Trump deals with the calendar,” Turley told “Special Report” host Bret Baier. “You know, the overriding push of Smith, the special counsel, has been to get a trial before the election. He is running out of runway. If this opinion doesn’t come out until June, perhaps, you have to remember that even if Smith wins, the mandate goes back to the district court, which has to handle all the pre-trial motions. That could take months.”
Oral arguments before the Supreme Court are scheduled for the week of April 22, which coincides with the court’s hearing on the application of a charge levied by the Justice Department against numerous individuals detained and accused of involvement in the Capitol building riot on January 6, 2021.
In August, Smith was able to get an indictment on four counts against Trump, which had to do with his attempts to contest the 2020 election results.
“They didn’t great the stay, but they created effectively or constructively a stay by setting it for argument,” Turley said.
Turley added: “Trump has gotten what he has wanted and that this is not going to be heard until the end of April, and then all bets are off when they might issue a decision. They could issue it before June, but there’s obviously some justices here who have a lot … to talk about on this issue.”