'Multi-headed Hydra': Ex-prosecutor says DOJ faces 'Herculean task' in Trump election case
Special Counsel Jack Smith has a tough road ahead of him in securing a conviction in Donald Trump's criminal case in D.C. for allegedly interfering with the 2020 election, a former prosecutor said Tuesday night.
Ex-federal prosecutor Shan Wu wrote for The Daily Beast that Smith, who is also facing difficulties related to Trump's criminal document retention case in Florida, has "a tougher task than Greek hero Hercules" after the Supreme Court's presidential immunity ruling.
Smith recently filed a superseding indictment in the case, cutting the charges down as much as possible so that they have little mention of Trump's role as the president, but that may not be enough, according to the expert.
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Wu argues in the piece that Smith’s new move against Trump "is the latest in what is becoming a battle never seen before."
"Special Counsel Jack Smith’s superseding indictment of former President Donald Trump in the Jan. 6 election interference case makes me wonder if Smith and his team feel like they are fighting the legendary multi-headed Hydra from Greek mythology," he writes.
According to Wu, most prosecutors just have to deal with the defense team, but Smith has to face the Supreme Court and, at least in the Florida case, a judge who is willing to entertain just about any argument from Trump's team. The High Court's ruling, Wu writes, was created "to shield defendant Trump from substantial parts of Smith’s original indictment" in the D.C. election subversion case.
"For example, the Supreme Court was quite explicit about the idea that any communications Trump had with the Justice Department–however allegedly ill-intentioned–would be fully immunized," Wu writes. "Accordingly, while the original indictment mentioned DOJ over 30 times, the new one makes no mention of DOJ at all."
He adds that Smith's changes to the indictment may not be able to overcome the roadblock.
"Smith’s re-tooling of his indictment really points up the absurdity of a SCOTUS opinion which teaches presidents to make sure they tell the DOJ about their intentions to commit crimes–or even enlist DOJ’s aide–so that their actions will be immunized from any prosecution," Wu writes. "Nor does the mere changing of the indictment’s factual narrative and characterizations solve the Special Counsel’s problems."
In conclusion, Wu argues that "the Greek Hydra of legend had nine heads and its destruction was one of Hercules’ 12 Labors. The Supreme Court–with its nine members–had imposed a Herculean task upon Smith in the Jan. 6 election interference case. It remains to be seen if he–or any prosecutor–is up to such a challenge."