A former Obama administration Justice Department official claimed Wednesday that the indictment of former President Donald Trump was the “most significant” in American history.
Former acting Solicitor General Neil Katyal said the four-count indictment Special Counsel Jack Smith secured against Trump relating to his efforts to contest the results of the 2020 election “is the most significant indictment that I would say in a way anyone has faced in the history of the United States” and that it would withstand a First Amendment defense. Smith previously secured a 37-count indictment against Trump in June based on an investigation into classified documents, which was supplemented with a superseding indictment issued Thursday that included charges against Carlos De Oliveira, a maintenance worker at Mar-a-Lago, the Florida estate owned by former President Trump.
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“Obviously, Trump’s going to try that defense, I don’t think that it’s going to cut the mustard,” Katyal said on “Morning Joe.” “You know, the only way in which it possibly could, is if Trump wanted to argue that he was insane, like, you know, and try some sort of insanity defense, or something like that.”
“But you know, just because you have believed… you won the election doesn’t mean you can take all of these different actions to subvert the will of the people over and over again, whether it’s the fake electors plot, whether it’s calling people to come on January 6 to Washington, D.C. to disrupt the most sacred moments that we have in our democracy, the counting of our votes, and that’s why I think it is absolutely right to say, not just is this, you know, the most significant indictment that Donald Trump is facing currently, this is the most significant indictment that I would say in a way anyone has faced in the history of the United States,” Katyal continued.
Many legal experts cast doubt on the indictment, saying much of what Smith cited in the 45-page filing was protected speech under the First Amendment. Trump’s top rivals for the Republican nomination for president in 2024, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, all condemned the indictment.
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