Special counsel Jack Smith, by bringing a superseding indictment against former President Donald Trump in his Jan. 6 case, is committing election interference by timing his action so close to the opening of early voting, Trump attorney Will Scharf, argued on Newsmax on Thursday.
"It is binding DOJ policy and has been for decades that you don't bring an indictment, you don't commit any overt investigative act within 60 days of a presidential election or any election, for that matter," Scharf said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America."
As of Thursday, the Nov. 5 election remains 68 days away, but Scharf said that Trump pointed out on his Truth Social account that "we have early voting starting within the next week or two."
"The idea that Jack Smith would be rushing this superseding indictment through a grand jury at this time shows what we've been saying all along, which is that this entire campaign of lawfare is just about election interference," he said. "What's at issue here is the fact that the Supreme Court absolutely gutted Jack Smith's case with its presidential immunity decision that came down on July 1, and he's now desperate to rescue it."
Scharf said he has reviewed the indictment. Smith's changes include removing a section dealing with Trump's interactions with the Justice Department, which the Supreme Court ruled were protected by presidential immunity.
Scharf said the new indictment still has "massive issues" that will be challenged.
"There's still a ton of presidential immune acts and evidence included in that indictment," he said. "I don't think this will stand. I think President Trump is going to have the ability to run for president as he deserves undisturbed, to the extent possible by this entire campaign of lawfare."
Scharf said he "figured" Smith would try to rescue his D.C. case, as he "invested so much into it to see it get just destroyed by the Supreme Court."
However, he said it is "absurd" that the special counsel would try to rush a superseding indictment through a grand jury before the election.
"Speaking as a former federal prosecutor, this isn't how you're trained to behave," Scharf said. "This isn't how you're trained to act. Jack Smith is a rogue prosecutor, and I think he needs to be called out for that."
He added that the cases that have been filed against Trump are "baseless" as he has done nothing wrong.
"What we've seen consistently is that on indictment day, the mainstream media breathlessly covers each of these cases," Scharf said. "And then as we get into court and fight, they collapse like a house of cards."
The one case that has gone through, the New York business records case, led to 34 felony numerous constitutional and due process violations that occurred there," he added.
Trump's sentencing date for the New York case is scheduled for Sept. 18, but Scharf said that the legal team has moved to stay the sentencing, as it "should not occur while we are challenging presidential immunity issues in that case."
"When you look at the entire litigation portfolio here, President Trump is winning," said Scharf. "The forces arrayed against him are losing and desperate. I think President Trump's going to win in a landslide in November. I think then we can finally restore some semblance of normalcy to the rule of law and to legal processes in this country."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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