'Very brilliant move': Legal expert says Jack Smith just made Judge Chutkan's job easier

During an appearance on "Morning Joe" MSNBC legal analyst Danny Cevallos applauded the effort special counsel Jack Smith put into going before a grand jury and getting a superseding indictment against Donald Trump related to the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Speaking with fill-in hosts Jonathan Lemire and Katty Kay, Cevallos explained that Smith trimmed down his charges against the former president which will make it harder for the conservative Supreme Court to intercede on his behalf.

Asked to "walk us through what happens next," Cevallos explained, "Normally a superseding indictment is something that strikes fear into the heart of a criminal attorney like me. It usually means that government has found more defendants or they've found more bad evidence and are charging more crimes. It's rare that you have a superseding indictment that reduces information."

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"Ultimately the only thing I care about is the counts, and all four counts remain," he pointed out. "That means if the defendant is convicted the sentencing guidelines will be exactly the same. All Jack Smith's team has done is taken a look at the indictment and said 'What should we remove that insulates us?' And, yes, they removed references to Trump's attempts to subvert the DOJ and maybe install a new acting attorney general, but they keep in language about vice president Pence, which signals to me that Jack Smith's team is feeling very confident."

"They've kept all four counts and they're keeping in conduct and the Mike Pence conduct is significant because the Supreme Court suggested that this at least was entitled to the presumption of immunity," he added. "So Jack Smith is signaling that even conduct that may be entitled to a presumption of immunity, it is full steam ahead. They are not afraid of the district court and any possible hearing; they are going forward with these counts."

"So as much as, yes, this indictment has been, I guess, reduced in length, everything that matters is still in it," he continued. "This is a strategic, I think a very brilliant move to keep this indictment alive, to head off any problems at the pass before Judge Tanya Chutkan has to hold a hearing making, I think, her job even easier."

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