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- [00:00]
A
Marketing is hard, but I'll tell you a little secret. It doesn't have to be. Let me point something out. You're listening to a podcast right now and it's great. You love the host. You seek it out and download it. You listen to it while driving, working out, cooking, even going to the bathroom. Podcasts are a pretty close companion. And this is a podcast ad. Did I get your attention? You can reach great listeners like yourself with podcast advertising from Libsyn Ads. Choose from hundreds of top podcasts offering host endorsements, or run a pre produced ad like this one across thousands of shows. To reach your target audience in their favorite podcasts with Libsyn Ads, go to libsyn ads.com that's L I B S Y-N ads.com today.
- [00:42]
B
Special counsel Jack Smith just made a major filing in the Washington, D.C. criminal case against Donald Trump, announcing that the Department of Justice will be dismissing the criminal case against Donald Trump in federal court. I'd like to read for you all the government's motion to dismiss and then I want to hear from Karen Friedman Agnifalo, who was previously the number two at the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. This is from the Government's motion to dismiss the federal criminal charges against Donald Trump connected with the January 6th insurrection. This case was in Washington, D.C. as a result of the election held on November 5th, 2024. The defendant, Donald J. Trump, will be inaugurated as president on January 20, 2025, and has long been the position of the Department of Justice that the United States Constitution forbids the federal indictment and subsequent criminal prosecution of a sitting President. But the Department and the country have never faced the circumstances here where a federal indictment against a private citizen has been returned and a criminal prosecution is already underway when the defendant is elected President. Confronted with this unprecedented situation, the specialist consulted with the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel, olc, whose interpretation of the constitutional question, such as those raised here, is binding on Department prosecutors. After careful consideration, the Department has determined that OLC's prior opinion concerning the Constitution's prohibition on federal indictment and prosecution of a sitting President apply to this situation, and that as a result, this prosecution must be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated. That prohibition is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the government's proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the government stands fully behind. Based on the Department's interpretation of the Constitution, the government moves for dismissal without prejudice of the superseding indictment under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 48A. The government has conferred with defense counsel who does not object to this motion. Karen Friedman, Agniflow, your immediate response?
- [03:02]
C
Look, you know, we knew this day was coming. It's such a shame that it has to come. And at a minimum, though, it's, I guess if you're looking for any silver lining, they said it's without prejudice, which means that they theoretically could bring the case in the future when Donald Trump is no longer president. However, in reality, that'll never happen because he's surely or likely going to pardon himself. The only thing that I thought was slightly odd was that very last sentence that you read where it said the government has conferred with defounce counsel who with defense counsel who does not object to this motion. And the fact that they wouldn't object that it's with dismissal without prejudice. That's a term of art, Ben, that they use in the legal world that you dismiss something either with prejudice or without prejudice, if it's dismissed with prejudice, because only a court can dismiss a case. So this is a motion. You're moving the court, you're asking the court to dismiss the case. And so really this is a joint motion because the defendant doesn't object. And it's a joint motion to dismiss without prejudice, meaning you could bring it again in the future. Because if it's a dismissal with prejudice, that's considered double jeopardy. You can no longer bring that in the future. And so for a moment you'd say, well, why would the defense agree to that? Why would the defense counsel agree to that? You'd think they'd want a dismissal with prejudice. And the answer is, of course, he's going to pardon himself or somehow orchestrate something so that that happens. And so that's what's going on here. This case is essentially de we knew that would have to happen once Trump is elected. What this means is Jack Smith has already finished wrapping up the case, wrapping up the boxes, categorizing things, filing things. It means he's written his motion to the or his report that by statute, as special counsel, he has to send over to Merrick Garland all that's been done. So he's ready today to move the court to dismiss it without prejudice. Sure, the court is going to do it. And that's where we are, that this is with the Washington D.C. case, the Jan6 case. And of course, then there's the Mar A Lago documents case that was already dismissed, but it's on appeal. And the question is, will they withdraw the appeal? The reason that one's slightly different is there's two other defendants in that case, right. Waltine Noda and Carlos de Oliveira. So it's unclear what they'll do there. If they'll move to dismiss the whole case or withdraw the appeal, I should say with the whole case or just to Donald Trump. One other thing I just wanted to say is for people wondering what's the Office of Legal Counsel or olc, it's sort of the definitive, the definitive law office of the White House. And it provides advisory opinions on what things mean and what things don't mean. They advise the president and it's kind of the law firm of the presidency. And so since this is with respect to a sitting president or a future sitting president or an elected president, it's, it's something they had to confer with the Office of Legal Counsel. And that would be binding on the Department of Justice since it's all part of the executive branch.
- [06:28]
B
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- [09:07]
C
Yeah, I agree with you. This is a tortured thing. Look, Jack Smith is somebody who I used to work with many years ago. We both worked at the Manhattan DA's office together. He's a always been a prosecutor. He's never been in the private sector. He was a federal prosecutor, then a war crimes prosecutor, now a special prosecutor. This is something that's clearly very difficult for him to do. To dismiss a case against somebody who he spent the last almost two years compiling a, an investigation and prosecution into a former sitting president. He brought this four count indictment. Then they had to supersede the indictment. They've been litigating it up and down and sideways. He's had to endure death threats and frankly, this is, he had to deal with the United States versus Trump case, making the President immune for certain things. I mean, a lot's been going on in this case and Jack Smith, who's just a prosecutor's prosecutor, he's not someone with an agenda, despite having worked with him and knowing him, I couldn't tell you what political party he belongs to. He's not a political guy. He's really someone who's a public servant and wants to do the right thing. And you can tell, as you pointed out, Ben, this is torture for him to have to do. When you have a serious case and you have to dismiss it, you have no choice. But that's Jack Smith, right? He's not going to wait, he's not going to just fight it. He's the guy who's going to do the right thing. And when he is told this is what you have to do, he's going to do it. That's how he is. So he's not someone who's going to claim that this is false or rigged or didn't happen or fight it and then lose in the courts. He's not that guy. He's a guy. He's a man of integrity and he's a public servant. And we should all thank him for his service in doing this.
- [10:54]
B
You know, I want to remind everybody as well that special counsel Jack Smith did everything that he could possibly do. Right. I mean, he was called. If you want to blame anyone on the delay of bringing the prosecution, it's definitely not special counsel Jack Smith. Special counsel Jack Smith was brought in. He accepted the assignment when it was given to him. He did everything that he could to expedite these proceedings. Right. He did everything he could, went to the Supreme Court. You all remember back in December of 2023 saying, look, this is so critical that you hear these issues on absolute immunity. Now, the Supreme Court said no. Then the Supreme Court delayed until the last possible time. And look, the Supreme Court created an entirely new legal doctrine for Donald Trump that never existed in legal textbooks before called absolute immunity. And not only did they make that ruling, but you got to go back to how the Supreme Court really structured is a nice way of putting it. Their calendar to make sure that all possible delays could be afforded to Donald Trump. And I understand that there's a lot of people, though, who will and have expressed frustration at Merrick Garland. And I think that's. We'll do that in another video perhaps. But in terms of Jack Smith's role, Jack Smith was called to duty. He came over here from being a war crimes prosecutor, did his job, was aggressive, did everything that was asked of him. One where it came to all of the legal arguments he could control. But ultimately, I think people are seeing here the profound flaws in a different tier justice system. And it's not the type of different tier justice system that Trump and MAGA rails on when they're the beneficiaries of that over and over again. Karen, last words from you.
- [12:57]
C
Yeah, look, you know, we still, I'm still wondering what this means for the Manhattan DA case and what, how they're going to interpret this. Because one of the things this talks about is this isn't just the indictment, but it's also the prosecution. And the Supremacy Clause also applies. Will make whatever decision the OL LLC says apply to the states, meaning the Manhattan DA's office, I think, because the prosecution's over and it's just time for sentencing. Hopefully that will be a different analysis. But that was my first question is, what does this mean for the Manhattan DA's office? So I'm sure we'll find out in the coming weeks.
- [13:35]
B
Everybody please hit subscribe. Let's try to get to 4 million subscribers here. Getting accurate, sober legal assessments is going to be so critical over the next four years. In particular, and whether the news is good, bad or ugly, we're going to report it as accurate and detailed as we can. For all of you, Karen Freeman Agnifalo, thank you very much. And also make sure you subscribe to the Legal AF podcast. And while you're at it, check out Midasplus.com thanks everybody for watching. Love this video. Make sure you stay up to date on the latest breaking news and all things Midas by signing up to the Midas touch newsletter@midastouch.com Newsletter.
- [14:22]
A
Marketing is hard, but I'll tell you a little secret. It doesn't have to be. Let me point something out. You're listening to a podcast right now and it's great. You love the host. You seek it out and download it. You listen to it while driving, working out, cooking, even going to the bathroom. Podcasts are a pretty close companion. And this is a podcast ad. Did I get your attention? You can reach great listeners like yourself with podcast advertising from Libsyn Ads. Choose from hundreds of top podcasts offering host endorsements or run a pre produced ad like this one across thousands of shows. To reach your target audience in their favorite podcasts with Libsyn Ads, go to Libsyn ads.com that's L I B S Y-N ads.com today.