Jack Smith is “just getting warmed up” with more charges against Donald Trump on the way
Donald Trump was charged with 37 counts for his theft of classified records, but it appears that Jack Smith isn’t done with him yet. According to the New York Times, a filing made on Friday night intimates that other charges could be forthcoming. Prosecutors made that filing in conjunction with their request that the judge place a protective order on discovery materials they share with the defense. While the filing did not specifically address any upcoming charges, it said enough.
Protective orders are typically put in place when information is not for public consumption. That could involve anything from trade secrets, proprietary information, or in criminal matters, information that might compromise an ongoing investigation. Prosecutors in criminal matters also sometimes keep information under wraps if all the defendants have not yet been charged, which sounds partly why the government asked for the order because some of that information “pertain[s] to ongoing investigations, the disclosure of which could compromise those investigations and identify uncharged individuals.”
Reciprocal discovery is required under criminal law, and if that discovery contains unreleased information, it could certainly compromise an investigation. The government seeks to keep things such as grand jury transcripts and witness interview recordings under wraps. Though prosecutors will eventually have to devise a strategy for sharing evidence with Trump’s legal team, NYT reported that Judge Aileen Cannon has advised Trump’s attorneys that they must obtain security clearance prior to reviewing any classified documents. This is an interesting ruling from Cannon, as she never required the special master she appointed to get security clearance. Perhaps she learned her lesson, but she won’t even be handling this motion. Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, magistrate judges handle all pretrial matters, including motions, and Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart-who authorized the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago-will be handling this motion and any others filed prior to trial. This is only the beginning of Trump’s foray into the criminal justice system.
Appearing on MSNBC Sunday morning, Glenn Kirschner had a warning for Trump: “Jack Smith is just getting warmed up.” Kirschner opines that Jack Smith may bring charges against Donald Trump in the New Jersey federal courts, stemming from Trump ferrying documents to his Bedminster property, showing them to people, and bragging about them. That means that Trump committed crimes in both Florida and New Jersey, and unless Smith files an indictment in New Jersey, those crimes will have no bearing on the charges filed in Florida. Kirschner’s believes other charges to be a slam dunk: “If I had to bet one dollar, I would bet a buck that we are going to see a federal indictment in New Jersey,” which leads us back to the motion the DOJ filed Friday.
We have no idea what these “ongoing investigations” involve. Kirschner could be correct, or it could be something else altogether. Some speculate that this information relates to Smith’s investigation of Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election, but it could be additional witnesses in the documents case. It is difficult to speculate what any of this means, but rest assured that we haven’t heard the last from Jack Smith.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years