Former President Donald Trump has received a letter demanding he appear before a District of Columbia grand jury in four days to testify related to the Jan. 6, 2020, protests at the U.S. Capitol.
According to Trump’s post on Truth Social, “Deranged Jack Smith, the prosecutor with Joe Biden’s DOJ, sent a letter (again, it was Sunday night!) stating that I am a TARGET of the January 6th Grand Jury investigation, and giving me a very short 4 days to report to the Grand Jury, which almost always means an Arrest and Indictment.”
This may be special counsel Jack Smith’s insurance policy, a preemptive move ahead of a hearing on Tuesday in Miami Federal Court. Trump’s attornies will be asking that any trial in the case be postponed until after the 2024 election. If that were granted, it would defeat any possible political gains President Biden’s team would hope to reap from this prosecution.
Trump’s filing with the court said, “President Trump is running for President of the United States and is currently the likely Republican Party nominee. This undertaking requires a tremendous amount of time and energy, and that effort will continue until the election on November 5, 2024. Such preparation requires significant planning and time, making the current schedule untenable and counseling in favor of a continuance.” Obviously, a continuance would derail what seems to be the purpose of the prosecution’s political timetable.
In previous elections, Donald Trump received less than 5% of the vote in the District. It is the Department of Justice’s go-to location for prosecuting Republicans and exonerating Democrats. The chances of getting an unbiased jury in a venue this anti-Republican and pro-Democrat are statistically remote. Jury nullification (rendering decisions based on personal opinion about the one being charged, not the law) is a strong possibility.
In the Roger Stone case, a woman got on the jury and became a forewoman even though she had publicly attacked the defendant on social media before the trial began. Based on this revelation, Stone requested a new trial but U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson refused to grant it. D.C. is where justice goes to die when it comes to politics.
So there is nothing new under the Sun in Washington. Trump will remain defiant as his political opponents wage unrelenting lawfare to hurt his chances in the 2024 election. So far, the law of unintended consequences has ruled the day. The more his political enemies seek to use the courts to damage his reelection chances, the higher his poll numbers go.
In the meantime, where is the special counsel whose name nobody knows? You know, the one looking into Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents in Chinatown, in the garage, and who knows where else? He might as well be in the witness protection program—or is it a presidential protection program?
