News of another indictment of Trump from Special Counsel Jack Smith shocked everyone. Trump’s lawyers have to be very careful about their next move.
But federal prosecutors have given Donald Trump critical advice about the incoming charges.
On Tuesday, retired federal prosecutors Francey Hakes and Jay Town told the media that Donald Trump should not react to a target letter he got from special counsel Jack Smith regarding an inquiry into the former president’s role in the events of January 6, 2021 at the U.S. Capitol.
Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday that he had gotten Smith’s letter on Sunday night, giving him four days to appear before the federal grand jury appointed to investigate the events on January 6.
According to Hakes’s interview with Newsmax’s Greta Van Susteren, Trump “would be crazy” to reply to the grand jury’s “target letter,” “respond to the invitation in it,” and “go in and testify before the grand jury,” all of which are what Jack Smith wants.
“Because when you’re the subject of a target letter, it means the prosecutor has built the case, right? The evidence is there and, really, all they’re waiting for now is for you to come in and either admit or deny, or fail to come in at all. And then they’ll tell the grand jury that they invited you, and you didn’t show up.”
Town, who appeared with Hakes on Newsmax, said he “loved” it when individuals responded to target letters when he was a prosecutor.
As Town put it, “If anything, at trial, their story is locked in.” Town served in the Trump administration’s Department of Justice.
“As a career prosecutor, you know, I knew the questions to ask … so it did help the case, typically, because they’re locked into their story. When we know so much more. They don’t know what we know, they don’t know what the witnesses have told us, or what the documents that we’ve subpoenaed have told us, so it typically works out very favorably for the government.”
According to Town, it’s unlikely that Trump will react to the letter or show up before the grand jury.
Town, the VP and general counsel of Gray Analytics, stated, “If I were advising him, I would tell him not to.”
“It doesn’t mean he’s not going to make a speech tomorrow all about it, though.”
The news of these latest incoming charges have been met with mixed reactions from the Republican and conservative base.
Ron DeSantis went on CNN and came to Donald Trump’s defense calling much of the legal trouble he’s facing a “weaponization of government” and made it clear he doesn’t believe it’s fair that Donald Trump is being targeted.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis reacts to former President Donald Trump saying he's been told by special counsel Jack Smith that he's a target of the criminal probe into efforts to overturn the 2020 election. https://t.co/OHWZWimUQp pic.twitter.com/XKWzKJZT1e
— CNN (@CNN) July 18, 2023
Others, like some well-known RINOs in the Senate, have been staying tight-lipped about Donald Trump as a whole.
Amidst all of this, Donald Trump doesn’t seem to be slowing down one bit. He made a town hall appearance with Fox News shortly after the news of the incoming Jack Smith charges and brushed off the news as election interference.
Be sure to stay tuned to the Federalist Wire.
