6 reactions to the Trump Jan. 6 indictment: 'Political persecution' or 'important reminder'?
Jonathan Turley
Jonathan Turley, a constitutional law professor at George Washington University, addressed the legal and political implications of the indictment in a thread Tuesday. In his view, Special Counsel Jack Smith issued "the first criminal indictment of alleged disinformation."
"If you take a red pen to all of the material presumptively protected by the First Amendment, you can reduce much of the indictment to haiku," he proclaimed.
Although Turley thinks Trump's Mar-a-Lago indictment related to his handling of classified documents is strong, he believes the new indictment "is the inverse."
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Special Counsel Jack Smith just issued the first criminal indictment of alleged disinformation in my view. If you take a red pen to all of the material presumptively protected by the First Amendment, you can reduce much of the indictment to haiku...
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) August 1, 2023
"This is closer to the case against former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell where Smith was overturned by [a] unanimous Supreme Court. The press conference held by Smith only deepened the unease for some of us. Smith railed against the January 6th riot and made it sound like he was inditing Trump on incitement. He didn't. The disconnect was glaring and concerning," Turley continued.
In a subsequent post, Turley circled back to one of his earlier blog posts illustrating how "prior polls showed that roughly half the public thought the charges against Trump were politically motivated." He predicted that "this indictment will only magnify that view," adding, "[Special Counsel] Jack Smith sounded more like a pundit than a prosecutor in announcing this indictment."
Prior polls showed that roughly half of the public thought that the charges against Trump were politically motivated. https://t.co/aKcicrefep This indictment will only magnify that view. Indeed, Smith sounded more like a pundit than a prosecutor in announcing this indictment.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) August 1, 2023
A poll released by ABC/Ipsos in June found that 48% of Americans thought that Trump was rightfully charged for his handling of classified documents, while 35% felt that he should not have been indicted.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: [email protected]
