ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith said on Monday that the man who attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump guaranteed his victory in the upcoming election.
Trump survived the attempt on his life by now-deceased 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks at his Saturday rally in Pennsylvania, with the former president pumping his fist as he departed with blood on his face after a bullet grazed his head. Smith on “The Stephen A. Smith Show” said his opinion is that this incident ensured Trump would win and that his legal cases would be terminated. (RELATED: ‘I’m Supposed To Be Dead’: Donald Trump Reflects After ‘Very Surreal’ Brush With Death)
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“In my opinion, the shooter, he just handed Donald Trump the election,” Smith said. “That is what I believe.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, you can’t buy — I’ve been in media for 30 years — you can’t buy a better photo than what Donald Trump has at his disposal as we speak,” he added.
Smith said this is the best possible visual a politician could obtain, adding that the media reaction to it was the opposite of their characterization of President Joe Biden.
“Listen to the pundits on TV talking about how strong, how vibrant, how courageous and they were using these words. And not coincidentally, it was the antithesis of what they’ve been saying about President Biden,” he said.
Smith then read Trump’s Truth Social statement following the assassination attempt, in which the former president expressed gratitude to the Secret Service and other law enforcement, as well as condolences for those injured and killed during the incident. He praised the statement, saying, “There’s not a word in there that he said that we can refute.”
“But make no mistake about it, Donald Trump, in my opinion, secured the presidency with this. A Donald Trump that was impeached twice. A Donald Trump that had a $454 million settlement levied against him,” Smith continued. “A Donald Trump that was convicted on 34 felony counts, yet was still the presumptive GOP nominee. That Donald Trump is now a martyr. You slice it any way you want to … it don’t get any better.”
“And if you are President Biden, boy, you’ve got your work cut out for you now, because the courts in Florida just ruled that Donald Trump can’t be prosecuted for taking the files out of the White House to his Mar-a-Lago estate,” he said. “So you can’t go after him for that any longer. Okay, that’s no longer an issue. That’s no longer something you can get at him about.”
Judge Aileen Cannon on Monday agreed to toss Trump’s classified documents case based on the former president’s defense’s assertion that special counsel Jack Smith was appointed unlawfully, writing that it breaches the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution.
Smith added that he doesn’t think any district attorney will summon Trump to court for his other cases after the assassination attempt, especially given the approaching election.
“He will be officially the GOP nominee. How are you going to rush him into court for the 2020 election case now?” Smith asked. “He still has the Georgia 2020 election interference case. How are you going to run that against him now? Tell me what prosecutor is going to be able to justify to the American public, taking a presidential candidate and a GOP nominee into court days or weeks after he survived an assassination attempt? You can’t do it.”
“So all the legal stuff, all the legal maneuverings that have been taking place, it’s all over, ladies and gentlemen,” he said. “Donald Trump’s not going to jail. Not gonna be prosecuted. You can book it.”
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