It’s not a “gambit”, it’s the only logical outcome given what the Supreme Court did. They crafted a new protection for the President out of thin air. They may act like it’s been there all along, but when Smith first filed these charges, these protections (particularly regarding getting any staff testimony at all) didn’t exist.
So the prosecutor made a bunch of charges based on one set of rules, then the SC stepped and said “Naw, use these rules instead”. Of course, Trump will say that these new rules render the entire Prosecution null and void, while Smith wil say that it has little effect. So the judge has no choice but to take in all the evidence and make a ruling. She wouldn’t be doing her job correctly if she didn’t do it this way. It’s kind of like when the judge in the GA trial held a “mini-trial” of the DA and her vacation plans, when assessing whether the DA’s relationship was a problem or not.
The timing may be convenient for Trump’s opponents, having a public airing of charges right before an election (and maybe a bit after his NY sentencing). But let’s not pretend that Trump didn’t purposefully do everything he could to delay his trials until after the election. If this one didn’t get delayed quite far enough, it’s not Jack Smith’s fault. He wanted this trial over with by now.
It’s not a “gambit”, it’s the only logical outcome given what the Supreme Court did. They crafted a new protection for the President out of thin air. They may act like it’s been there all along, but when Smith first filed these charges, these protections (particularly regarding getting any staff testimony at all) didn’t exist.
So the prosecutor made a bunch of charges based on one set of rules, then the SC stepped and said “Naw, use these rules instead”. Of course, Trump will say that these new rules render the entire Prosecution null and void, while Smith wil say that it has little effect. So the judge has no choice but to take in all the evidence and make a ruling. She wouldn’t be doing her job correctly if she didn’t do it this way. It’s kind of like when the judge in the GA trial held a “mini-trial” of the DA and her vacation plans, when assessing whether the DA’s relationship was a problem or not.
The timing may be convenient for Trump’s opponents, having a public airing of charges right before an election (and maybe a bit after his NY sentencing). But let’s not pretend that Trump didn’t purposefully do everything he could to delay his trials until after the election. If this one didn’t get delayed quite far enough, it’s not Jack Smith’s fault. He wanted this trial over with by now.