Former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy said Monday that many people “miss” the case that would “blow up” special counsel Jack Smith’s prosecution of former President Donald Trump.
Smith secured a four-count indictment against Trump in August related to the former president’s efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 election. The Supreme Court agreed to hear Fischer v. United States, a case centered on the obstruction statue that Smith charged Trump with in the August indictment, scheduling oral arguments for April. (RELATED: ‘I Don’t Think This Works’: GOP Sen Says Jack Smith’s ‘Political Prosecution’ Of Trump Is Blowing Up In Dems’ Faces)
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“The case to keep your eye on is the obstruction case,” McCarthy told “America’s Newsroom” co-host Bill Hemmer. “We miss it because Trump is not a party to that case. They are looking at the same statute that is key to Smith’s prosecution of Trump in Washington, and if they — as I expect they may, if they — if they say the Justice Department has not been correctly applying that statute, that’s going to have a catastrophic impact for Smith on his indictment.”
The Justice Department has charged hundreds of people who took part in the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol building with violating 18 USC Section 1512(c)(2), obstructing or impeding an official proceeding, which carries a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
“The D.C. Circuit’s expansion of Section 1512(c)(2) beyond evidence impairment to protests at the seat of government thus conflicts with the interpretations of other courts of appeal limiting the scope of the same statute,” attorneys for Joseph Fischer, who was chargd in connection with the Capitol riot, wrote in a brief submitted to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court threw out a conviction Smith secured against then-Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell of Virginia in a unanimous decision in 2016.
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