OPINION | This article contains the author's opinion.
Political commentator and legal scholar Mark Levin noted that there is a major problem in the wide-ranging charges against former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants.
Levin notes that the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution states that “No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury.”
However, Special Counsel Jack Smith is accused of violating this law by “using the wrong venue in violation of specific DOJ policy, and then hastily moved the case to a grand jury in Florida.”
Mark Levin Says Fulton County 'A Perfect Case For Grand Jury Abuse' pic.twitter.com/otRy9p55eG
— 1776 (@TheWakeninq) August 29, 2023
Levin explains, “The protection afforded by a fair grand jury proceeding dates back many centuries to the Magna Carta and was prominently implemented by British and American courts applying Blackstone’s legal doctrines.”
“The notion that any grand jury would indict a ham sandwich refers to the usual adoption by grand juries of evidence presented by a prosecutor,” Levin added.
“It should not eradicate a right that was deemed important enough to be included in the Bill of Rights.”
This leaves Americans asking many questions because the Florida grand jurors did not hear the testimony presented to the D.C. grand jury.
“What exactly did they hear or see to charge the former president and the other defendants?” Levin asks.
“Was the D.C. testimony read to them?” he continued. “What were they instructed about the D.C. testimony? Were they asked whether they had any questions for the witnesses who testified?”
“Were they instructed on the need to find probable cause as to each of the defendants? Were they instructed on the law?” he concluded.
In the end, it appears that Trump prosecutors have a grand jury problem that will be exposed by defense attorneys.
“Indeed, the D.C. grand jury met for many months, heard from many scores of witnesses, and was presumably provided with an enormous amount of ‘evidence’ presented to it by the government,” Levin said.
The government has turned over to the defendants a staggering 1 million documents and nine months of videotape.
The immense complexity of the law in this matter is convincing many Americans that Trump prosecutors may be in over their heads.
“In all four cases involving the indictment of President Trump, the media have repeatedly reported that Trump has ‘been indicted by a grand jury.’ The real question is whether the grand juries truly deliberated or simply went through the motions at the direction of the prosecution,” Levin said.
“Did a majority vote to accuse Trump and all his co-defendants of the complex crimes alleged in the indictments or was this window dressing for what happened in these secret proceedings?” he asked.