“Trump special counsel Jack Smith lost the John Edwards case — what might that mean?”

Fascinating oped from Stephen Weissman:

Attorney General Merrick Garland’s appointment of Jack Smith as special counsel to oversee two federal criminal investigations involving former President Donald Trump was praised by some of Smith’s former Justice Department colleagues, who highlighted his fairness, energy and effectiveness. Yet, there has been little independent examination by the media or nonpartisan groups of Smith’s relevant 2010-2015 performance as chief of the department’s Public Integrity section, the unit that prosecutes criminal misconduct by public officials.

To begin such an inquiry, one might examine Smith’s most high-profile case, that of former senator and Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards. It was a prosecution Smith decisively lost. Jurors voted to acquit Edwards of several felony violations of federal campaign finance law. The core issue in that trial could be central to the most talked about potential cases against Trump: allegedly interfering with the post-2020 transfer of presidential power and allegedly obstructing the FBI’s investigation of missing classified and other federal government records. Simply put, “Did the defendant intend to break the law?”

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