Reports show that special counsel Jack Smith is focusing on a meeting in the Oval Office on December 18, 2020, as part of his probe into the January 6 Capitol disturbance. CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig delved into the possible criminal charges that might arise from the encounter.
Then-President Donald Trump, prominent investigators Michael Flynn, Sidney Powell, and Rudy Giuliani met to discuss the possibility of seizing voting machines, declaring martial law, and other measures after it became clear that the 2020 election had been stolen from Trump.
Honig said the meeting was bananas, but that didn’t imply it could be used as evidence in a criminal case. It would be difficult to show criminal intent. The individuals present at the conference would not need to come forward and acknowledge wrongdoing to be investigated, but it’s not a cut-and-dry case based on that one encounter alone.
The charge that a high-ranking official at the US Department of Justice tried to shake down Trump’s co-defendant’s lawyer has been lost in the flurry of headlines about the president’s indictment for alleged violations of the Espionage Act.
According to a report, it’s a scandal waiting to happen, and if it does, it will result in public congressional hearings and maybe even the dismissal of the whole case against Trump at the Department of Justice.
Walt Nauta, a Navy valet who worked in the Trump White House and is a personal aide to the President after he left office, is a co-defendant in the case against Trump. Stanley Woodward, a prominent Washington attorney for Nauta, has been making accusations against high-ranking Department of Justice officials, including former Counterintelligence Chief Jay Bratt, now a member of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team of prosecutors. Woodward’s accusations were made public a few weeks ago.
Bratt allegedly told Woodward at a meeting on Nauta’s case that Woodward’s application to be a judge in the District of Columbia Superior Court may be affected if he couldn’t persuade his client to provide testimony against Trump, as reported by the press.
The prosecution against Trump and Nauta can be dropped entirely if the allegations against Bratt are shown to be true. Depending on the specifics, Bratt may even be found criminally liable.
