Georgetown law school professor Jonathan Turley destroyed special counsel Jack Smith’s filing of federal charges against former President Donald Trump for the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol Building.
OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.
Turley warned that if Smith is successful, his prosecution will not only result in improperly finding Trump guilty but also destroying a tidal wave of legal precedent backed by the U.S. Supreme Court.
“This is a free speech-killing indictment. There’s no way around it,” he told Fox News host Sean Hannity (see video below).
“I write a great deal in academia in the free-speech area, and I have rarely seen a more chilling filing by the Department of Justice. The question that people have to ask themselves is, when is the price too high? People are obviously enraged, but what is the price too high to bag Donald Trump?” he said.
“This indictment is that prohibitive cost. Meaning, what they are attempting to do is criminalize what they consider to be disinformation,” Turley continued.
“And I have to tell you, this indictment is a really sad moment for me. I hoped that Smith is going to indict on January 6th, that he would find unassailable evidence and unquestioned legal authority. He has neither in this indictment,” he added.
“This is a speaking indictment, but it doesn’t say very much. It basically just says that we think Trump is lying and that he actually didn’t believe this. I can’t tell you how facetiously ridiculous this claim is,” he added.
“It starts up by saying, of course, you can say false things in the campaign, but then says that Trump knew they were false. Is that the test going forward in terms of criminalizing political speech?” Turley asked.
“Smith is just not only going to have to just bulldoze through the First Amendment, he’s going to have to bulldoze through a line of cases by the Supreme Court,” he said.
WATCH:
[videopress YyZ8MoEO]
