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Numerous legal experts have predicted over the weekend that the latest plans of the Department of Justice's (DOJ) grand jury suggest that another indictment is nearing for Donald Trump.
On Saturday, NBC News reported that the grand jury investigating Trump's alleged mishandling of classified documents is scheduled to reconvene in Washington, D.C., sometime in the next week. The case, being overseen by special counsel Jack Smith, has recently appeared to pick up steam, with various experts claiming that indictments could be coming in the days or weeks following Memorial Day.
In response to the news of the grand jury meeting again in Washington, numerous legal experts suggested that the jury was doing so in order to vote on issuing an indictment. During a Sunday appearance on MSNBC's Inside with Jen Psaki, former federal prosecutor and outspoken Trump legal analyst Glenn Kirschner suggested that observers of the documents case should now be on "indictment watch."
Citing his own experience arguing large-scale cases to grand juries, Kirschner said that the timeline lines up with the notion that an indictment vote is near, given that the last witness was reportedly presented to the group a month ago. Typically, he explained, prosecutors will take a break in between showing all of the evidence to a grand jury, prepare an extensive breakdown of all the available information, and then reconvene for a final decision on indictments.
Given what we know about the status of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s criminal investigation of Donald Trump’s classified documents crimes, here’s why we’d be well-advised to now be on indictment watch: https://t.co/fybeNyloO8
— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2) June 4, 2023
"The obvious inference-not the only one but the most obvious— is they're reconvening to vote out an indictment," Harry Litman, a senior legal columnist for the Los Angeles Times, tweeted in response to the development on Saturday. "Fasten your seat belts..."
The obvious inference-not the only one but the most obvious— is they’re reconvening to vote out an indictment. Fasten your seat belts:.. https://t.co/V2T8hKfXBp
— Harry Litman (@harrylitman) June 4, 2023
"With reports that the Trump classified document grand jury is meeting again shortly, what can we expect?" CNN legal analyst Norm Eisen tweeted. "Charges! (If not this week, soon.)"
With reports that the Trump classified document grand jury is meeting again shortly, what can we expect?
— Norm Eisen (@NormEisen) June 4, 2023
Charges! (If not this week, soon.)
I explain with an all-star cast of co-authors in our new model prosecution memo @just_security @rgoodlaw https://t.co/uzEPo1iLFA
"Smells like indictments," Dante Atkins, a progressive political adviser, added in his own tweet.
Smells like indictments https://t.co/2aeO3061pk
— ?Dante Atkins? (@DanteAtkins) June 4, 2023
Despite the insights from numerous legal experts, there is no official indication of what the grand jury will be meeting to do.
Trump has long maintained his innocence in the case, in which he is accused of improperly retaining classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida after leaving the White House. The former president claimed that he had declassified the materials before the end of his presidency and also claimed to have had a broad ability to do so.
That argument was rattled recently when reports emerged that DOJ investigators were in possession of a tape from July 2021, in which Trump discussed being in possession of a classified document. The tape also included Trump acknowledging that he could not discuss the document's contents due to it being classified.
Newsweek reached out to Trump's press team via email for comment.
About the writer
Thomas Kika is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in upstate New York. His focus is reporting on crime and national ... Read more