(Photo
by
Alex
Wong/Getty
Images)
On
Wednesday,
Special
Counsel
Jack
Smith’s
brief
defending
his
superseding
indictment
of
Donald
Trump
was
unsealed
on
the
public
docket.
As
per
Judge
Tanya
Chutkan’s
instruction,
the
prosecutor
defended
the
permissibility
of
evidence
and
specific
conduct
in
light
of
the
Supreme
Court’s
immunity
decision.
And
as
per
his
custom,
Trump
responded
by
losing
his
shit
on
social
media.
“ELECTION
INTERFERENCE!”
he
screeched,
adding
that
“FOR
60
DAYS
PRIOR
TO
AN
ELECTION,
THE
DEPARTMENT
OF
INJUSTICE
IS
SUPPOSED
TO
DO
ABSOLUTELY
NOTHING
THAT
WOULD
TAINT
OR
INTERFERE
WITH
SAID
ELECTION.
THEY
DISOBEYED
THEIR
OWN
RULE
IN
FAVOR
OF
COMPLETE
AND
TOTAL
ELECTION
INTERFERENCE.
I
DID
NOTHING
WRONG,
THEY
DID!
THE
CASE
IS
A
SCAM,
JUST
LIKE
ALL
OF
THE
OTHERS,
INCLUDING
THE
DOCUMENTS
CASE,
WHICH
WAS
DISMISSED!”
In
fact,
there
is
no
“60
Day
Rule,”
as
such.
Every
even-numbered
year
since
2008,
the
attorney
general
has
sent
out
virtually
the
same
memo
noting
that
“Law
enforcement
officers
and
prosecutors
may
never
select
the
timing
of
public
statements
(attributed
or
not),
investigative
steps,
criminal
charges,
or
any
other
action
in
any
matter
or
case
for
the
purpose
of
affecting
any
election,
or
for
the
purpose
of
giving
an
advantage
or
disadvantage
to
any
candidate
or
political
party.”
It
also
reminds
DOJ
employees
that
“It
is
critical
that
each
of
us
complies
with
the
Hatch
Act.”
Trump
refused
to
discipline
Kellyanne
Conway
for
repeated
and
egregious
Hatch
Act
violations,
even
as
she
scoffed
“Let
me
know
when
the
jail
sentence
starts.”
And
Trump’s
Attorney
General
Bill
Barr
flouted
the
60-day
rule,
hyping
an
investigation
of
supposedly
discarded
mail-in
ballots
in
Luzerne,
Pennsylvania
in
mid-September
of
2024.
The
reality
was
that
seven
ballots
were
inadvertently
discarded
by
a
person
who
was
“mentally
impaired,”
according
to
a
DOJ
Inspector
General
investigation,
which
Barr
refused
to
cooperate
with.
But
even
assuming
that
Trump’s
newfound
concern
for
Justice
Department
norms
is
genuine
[COUGH],
he’s
just
wrong.
The
“rule”
pertains
to
investigative
steps,
charging
decisions,
and
public
statements
timed
by
the
prosecutors
to
affect
the
outcome
of
an
election.
It
does
not
apply
to
judicially
mandated
court
filings,
such
as
a
brief
in
a
pending
criminal
case.
But
if
the
former
president
is
looking
to
blame
someone
for
this
brief
becoming
public
on
the
eve
of
the
election,
he
ought
to
shift
his
focus
a
few
blocks
—
specifically
from
Main
Justice
on
Pennsylvania
Avenue
to
One
First
Street,
where
six
of
his
buddies
did
their
level
best
to
ensure
that
this
thing
landed
back
in
the
trial
court
on
the
eve
of
the
election.
To
wit,
in
December
of
2023,
the
Supreme
Court
rebuffed
the
Special
Counsel’s
request
to
expedite
the
appeal
of
the
wildly
political
immunity
ruling
in
Trump’s
election
interference
case.
And
after
the
DC
Circuit
issued
a
unanimous
and
thorough
ruling,
the
Supreme
Court
junked
their
work,
then
sat
on
the
case,
refusing
to
issue
their
own
verdict
until
the
very
last
day
of
the
term.
As
the
New
York
Times
reports,
the
Chief
Justice
made
damn
sure
that
the
opinion
would
come
out
as
and when
it
did
on
July
1,
which
meant
that
it
wasn’t
remanded
to
the
DC
Circuit
until
August
2.
And
so,
on
August
3,
it
landed
back
in
Judge
Chutkan’s
lap
with
the
instruction
from
the
Court’s
conservatives
“to
determine
in
the
first
instance—with
the
benefit
of
briefing
we
lack—whether
Trump’s
conduct
in
this
area
qualifies
as
official
or
unofficial.”
Then
when
the
trial
judge
asked
the
parties
how
they’d
like
to
proceed,
Trump’s
lawyers
proposed
to
do
functionally
nothing
for
the
rest
of
the
year,
demanding
that
the
court
allow
them
to
spend
that
time
briefing
a
motion
to
dismiss
based
on
the
theory
that
the
special
counsel
was
illegally
appointed.
This
motion
is
both
untimely,
since
the
deadline
was
more
than
18
months
ago,
and
functionally
irrelevant
for
the
trial
proceedings,
since
the
DC
Circuit
ruled
on
the
issue
during
Special
Counsel
Robert
Mueller’s
investigation.
And
unlike
Judge
Aileen
Cannon,
Judge
Chutkan
is
not
about
to
ignore
binding
precedent.
As
they’ve
done
at
every
juncture,
Trump’s
lawyers
squandered
the
opportunity
to
make
a
real
legal
argument
and
propose
a
rational
briefing
schedule.
Instead
they
opted
to
shout
inanities
about
“the
Biden
DOJ”
doing
WITCH
HUNTS
to
Trump
in
an
attempt
to
tank
his
electoral
prospects.
You
pay
your
money,
you
take
your
chances.
The
special
counsel
responded
by
securing
a
superseding
indictment
that
he
claims
comports
with
the
Supreme
Court’s
immunity
ruling,
and
then
offering
to
provide
the
court
with
“the
benefit
of
briefing
we
lack—whether
Trump’s
conduct
in
this
area
qualifies
as
official
or
unofficial”
in
three
weeks
time.
Given
the
choice
between
NOW
and
NEVER,
Judge
Chutkan
chose
the
former
and
ordered
the
special
counsel
to
get
on
with
it.
That’s
not
a
violation
of
DOJ
policy,
which
anyway
doesn’t
create
a
private
right
for
any
litigant.
And
it’s
not
because
Special
Counsel
Smith
is
sitting
in
some
dark
lair
in
the
basement
of
the
DOJ,
stroking
his
beard
and
saying
“If
it’s
what
you
say
I
love
it
especially
later
in
the
summer.”
The
timing
of
this
filing
is
almost
entirely
thanks
to
the
Supreme
Court,
who
ensured
that
this
case
wound
up
back
on
the
trial
docket
the
first
week
in
August.
And
considering
that
SCOTUS
gave
him
a
get-out-of-jail
free
card
and
promised
to
do
whatever
it
takes
to
ensure
that
he
never
faces
justice,
Trump
should
just
shut
up
for
once
in
his
bloody
life
and
say
“thank
you.”
US
v.
Trump [Docket
via
Court
Listener]
Liz
Dye lives
in
Baltimore
where
she
produces
the
Law
and
Chaos substack and podcast.