What this GOP senator’s 'absurd' claim gets wrong about Jack Smith’s Trump cases

President-Elect Donald Trump and Special Counsel Jack Smith are seen in a combination of file photos in Washington, U.S., in 2023. REUTERS/Tasos Katopodis, Kevin Wurm/File Photo
Maya Boddie
November 27, 2024Frontpage news and politics

Special counsel Jack Smith's move to dismiss Donald Trump's 2020 election interference and classified documents case earlier this week — to Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) — proves that the prosecutions were "just politicized lawfare" against the president-elect all along.

"Now Jack Smith is moving to dismiss," Lee wrote via social media. "Isn’t that tantamount to an admission that this was just politicized lawfare from the beginning?"

In a blog published Wednesday, MSNBC's Steve Benen issues a reality check to the Republican lawmaker.

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"I’m not a mind reader," Benen writes. "I have no idea whether Lee was making a sincere but misguided point or if he was merely pretending to be foolish out of a cynical belief that many Americans will believe nonsense."

The Rachel Maddow Show producer continued, "Either way, to the extent that reality still has any meaning, there’s literally no reason to believe Smith and the special counsel’s office wanted these cases to end. To hear Lee tell it, Smith effectively concluded, 'Well, Trump won, so I guess there’s no point in trying to prosecute him anymore.'"

But that claim "is absurd," Benen emphasizes, because "Smith and his team did everything they could to hold Trump accountable for his many alleged crimes. They’re wrapping up not because they’ve lost interest, but because their hands are tied."

The Department of Justice's policy is that a sitting president cannot be prosecuted.

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Former US attorney Barbara McQuade noted on Tuesday, "By dismissing the cases now on his own terms, Smith blocks Trump’s attorney general from dismissing the cases for all time."

She added that "it may be that a future attorney general, whether serving in a Democratic or Republican administration, will lack the appetite to resuscitate the cases against Trump in 2029. But Smith has done all he can to preserve that possibility."

Benen's full blog post is available at this link.