After the attack Saturday, when a 20-year-old shooter wounded Trump’s ear, killed one audience member and injured two others, Biden gave an Oval Office address telling Americans to “lower the temperature in our politics.” Despite this message, Biden’s DOJ shows no sign of reining in its prosecution of Trump, which multiple legal experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation has served to heighten tensions and exacerbate animosity toward Trump.
Cornell Law School professor William A. Jacobson told the DCNF that the cases against Trump “contributed to the hysteria and dehumanization of Trump that created an atmosphere in which his life was put in danger.”
The criminal prosecutions, both by the DOJ and at the state-level in New York and Georgia, “have had clear political overtones” that are “part of a larger Democrat effort to prevent Trump from running for and becoming president again,” Jacobson said. (RELATED: Biden DOJ Tries To Salvage Jan 6. Charges After Facing Major Blow At Supreme Court)
“In the context of these political prosecutions, it’s fair to take politics into account in whether to continue the prosecutions,” Jacobson said. “While I am not expecting it to happen because the DOJ seems emotionally addicted to convicting Trump, it would be a magnanimous gesture by the DOJ to halt the prosecutions in light of the assassination attempt.”
Special counsel Jack Smith chose on Wednesday to appeal a judge’s decision to dismiss Trump’s Florida classified documents case and has given no indication that he will back off on the other federal case against Trump in Washington, D.C., even after the Supreme Court pared it back in its ruling on presidential immunity.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The special counsel’s office declined to comment on whether it would drop charges, but pointed the DCNF to a statement it issued on the classified documents case Monday.
“The dismissal of the case deviates from the uniform conclusion of all previous courts to have considered the issue that the Attorney General is statutorily authorized to appoint a Special Counsel,” a spokesperson said Monday. “The Justice Department has authorized the Special Counsel to appeal the court’s order.”
Cannon held in her 93-page ruling Monday that Smith’s appointment violated the Constitution’s Appointments Clause.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is rushed offstage during a rally on July 13, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“Setting aside the Constitution and norms-busting nature of these cases, I believe they have contributed to an effort to ‘otherize’ Trump so that people perceive him as uniquely dangerous and worthy of ‘any means necessary’ governmental action to prevent his reelection,” former federal prosecutor Francey Hakes told the DCNF. “This otherizing, in addition to using terms like ‘Hitler’ and ‘existential threat to democracy’ likely created the atmosphere that lead to the attempted assassination on Saturday.”
Former federal prosecutor Joseph Moreno likewise told the DCNF this week that dropping the case entirely would probably “be the smartest political decision” for Biden, especially in light of his own “history in mishandling classified documents.”
“Bottom line is that based on last week’s assassination of Trump, President Biden can appear to be a conciliatory force,” Moreno said. “If he is serious about tamping down the hostility and anger in our nation today, let’s hope he actually backs his words with action.”
Hakes told the DCNF she doesn’t think Biden will drop the two federal cases and sees “zero evidence the temperature has been turned down by the left.”
Biden’s rhetoric was sharply criticized following the assassination attempt, particularly for a statement he made on a call with donors saying it is “time to put Trump in a bull’s-eye.” He told NBC News on Monday that the language was a “mistake” but said Trump was the one who engaged in dangerous rhetoric.
“Look, I’m not the guy that said. I want to be a dictator on day one,” Biden told NBC News. “I’m not the guy that refused to accept the outcome of the election. I’m not the guy who said that wouldn’t accept the outcome of this election automatically.” (RELATED: Jack Smith’s Other Big Trump Case Could Go Down In Flames After Judge Finds His Appointment ‘Unconstitutional’)
In Trump’s Washington, D.C. case, he was indicted last August on four felony counts relating to alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
The Supreme Court ruled in July that former presidents are entitled to immunity from prosecution for official acts, directing the district court to sort out which parts of the indictment fall into that category. Trump sought to dismiss the D.C. case based on his presidential immunity argument, and brought his argument to the Supreme Court after it was rejected by both District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan and the D.C. Circuit.
Proceedings in Trump’s Georgia case have been paused while the state appeals court weighs defendants’ efforts to disqualify District Attorney Fani Willis. In New York, Trump was convicted in May on 34 counts for falsifying business records.
“The bottom line is that these cases should never have been brought, have no legal or Constitutional foundation, and have contributed to public attitudes that Trump is somehow a unique threat to the very foundation of America,” Hakes said. “Dangerous rhetoric has now apparently justified an assassination attempt and an innocent man is dead.”
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