Former U.S. President Donald Trump’s indictment appears more likely, although the timing of when the Justice Department would press the charges is still uncertain, according to multiple reports and views offered by legal experts.
Indictment To Come This Month? Trump could be indicted sometime over the next 30 days, U.S. lawyer, economist, and investment banker Jim Rickards said on Twitter on Wednesday.
President Joe Biden’s speech on Thursday would lay out the "pretext," the author of the book “Currency Wars: The Making Of The Next Global Crisis” said.
“Get ready; this is definitely not priced.”
Biden is scheduled to deliver a primetime speech at the Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia on Thursday, which would focus on “the continued battle for the soul of the nation,” NBC News reported.
Trump is in spotlight following the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s raid of his Mar-a-Lago residence for uncovering classified documents the former president had allegedly stashed away at the place.
The affidavit seeking a warrant to search the Florida home, which was unsealed last week, explained the government’s concern about the massive volume of sensitive and highly classified documents being stored at a place that was accessible to the visitors of the beachfront home.
Trump’s Team Can’t Make Strong Case: A new court filing by Trump’s legal team on Wednesday made what are being perceived as weak arguments such as the political bias of the DoJ and the ex-president’s right to sue the federal agency and seek a special master, the Business Insider reported.
The filing contended that Trump has the right to file a lawsuit against the government.
“It is the reasonable expectation of privacy in one's home that triggers the obvious standing of the homeowner to contest a search on those premises.”
Harry Litman, a former federal prosecutor, however, questioned this claim and said this can be done only if Trump is charged and not in advance, the Insider report noted.
Another legal expert suggested that the DoJ can’t criminalize Trump as his legal team has said in the filing. A Grand Jury with 12 members would have to convict beyond a reasonable doubt, Andrew Weissmann, a former FBI general counsel, said on Twitter.
It’s just a PR filing and not a serious one, he said.
Trump Charges May Have To Wait: Federal prosecutors may not announce any charges against Trump until the November mid-term elections even if they find the ex-president culpable, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
This is in line with the policy of not taking investigative actions or pressing charges traditionally 60 days before an election so that the actions can't be said to influence the results, the report said.
Investigators, however, can take non-public actions as part of the investigations, potentially obtaining indictments under seal, it added.
