Former Prosecutor: Jack Smith’s Filing Should Disqualify Trump from Holding Office Again
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According to former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, the evidence laid out in special counsel Jack Smith’s latest filing in the January 6 case should disqualify Donald Trump from ever holding elected office again.
The recently unsealed 165-page filing by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan reveals how Trump pressured then-Vice President Mike Pence and other Republicans across the country in an effort to overturn the 2020 election results. The court must now decide which of Trump’s actions should be immune from prosecution after the Supreme Court granted him immunity for official acts.
Weissmann, speaking on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, emphasized the weight of the evidence despite the limitations imposed by the Supreme Court. “The Supreme Court [required] Jack Smith to truncate his proof,” Weissmann explained, “to only use witnesses who are private or acting in a private capacity, even with that limitation…this is sort of body blow after body blow with really shocking evidence.”
Weissmann, who has a long legal career, compared this to the infamous Watergate scandal, saying, “I am old enough to remember Watergate, which was about cheating and trying to find out what your opponent knew through illegal means and covering that up. This is so much worse. It lays out an effort to undermine and thwart the votes of millions just to stay in office.”
He highlighted that the evidence comes directly from Trump’s inner circle, including his own lawyers, campaign staff, and Vice President Pence, who ultimately acted out of principle and followed the rule of law. Weissmann drew a stark contrast between the fallout of Watergate, which led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon in 1974 and resulted in dozens of indictments and convictions, and the aftermath of January 6.
Despite Trump’s impeachment by the Democratic-led House in 2021, the Republican-led Senate refused to convict him. Reflecting on the shocking revelations in the filing, Weissmann expressed his disappointment:
“This is a read that is so graphic, so devastating, and so dispiriting… These allegations are the kind of thing that the normal laws of gravity would have people understanding that this person should never be in office again, based on this really detailed show of the facts around what Donald Trump did.” Weissmann’s comments underscore the seriousness of the evidence in Jack Smith’s case against Trump, raising further questions about the former president’s fitness for future office.
