The special counsel investigating former President Trump in connection with alleged mishandling of classified documents and the January 6 Capitol riot instituted two separate grand jury proceedings, leading to conjecture and questions on why the rare move was made.
John "Jack" Smith, who until recently prosecuted war crimes cases in The Hague relating to the 1999 Kosovo War, has grand juries empaneled in both the District of Columbia and Florida, which former federal prosecutor Andy McCarthy said shows potential hesitance to try Trump criminally in his adopted home state.
A recent meeting between Trump attorneys and Smith also raised the possibility that an indictment may be coming.
McCarthy told Fox News Tuesday the presence of both grand juries is a factor worth watching closely.
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"The investigation of Trump is centered in Florida. The case really should be in Florida. The documents that were found were located in Florida. When the Justice Department got a search warrant, they got it in Florida, but they don't want to try Trump in Florida," he said.
The Biden Justice Department likely wants Trump to be brought to court in the District of Columbia, McCarthy said, as the former president received 5% of the vote there in 2020, his poorest showing in the country.
McCarthy said the DOJ believes a Washington courtroom presents a "home game" for them, versus the Southern District of Florida – which has courtrooms in cities like Miami, Fort Pierce and Key West.
A jury pool in the District of Columbia would likely be markedly less friendly to Trump than those in South Florida, McCarthy argued.
"So they're using a grand jury in Washington and that's the grand jury that what they're saying is that Trump obstructed its investigation of the document retention in Florida," he said. "But it was the Justice Department that decided to set up shop in Washington, as we're seeing. They could easily have done that in Florida."
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He surmised the reason for a Florida grand jury to still be empaneled is because there are likely many witnesses the government wants to hear from. For some, travel up I-95 to Washington would be a hardship.
"So the fact that they have a Florida grand jury, I think, is a good indication that that's where the case should have been in the first place," McCarthy said.
Trump was recently indicted by a jury in his home state of New York, but his move to Florida has put him among much friendly political environs as of late.
The former president has made light of the marked change in opinion toward him in the northeast, notably quipping during an Al Smith Dinner speech that Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. -- seated nearby – used to "love me when I was a Democrat."
Earlier, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said in a Fox News interview he believes the Biden Justice Department will indeed indict Trump, though for a process crime like obstruction rather than a weighty offense like mishandling classified information.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told Fox News later Tuesday that it "looks like exactly what's coming."
Jordan said the prospect of such an indictment by a Democratic administration against the leading Republican presidential contender is exactly why his panel sent a letter demanding specifics on the scope of Smith's probe.
"I'd like to see that document that the attorney general gave to Jack Smith when he launched this special investigation … seven months ago. And that's why we've asked for it, because it looks like something completely unprecedented never happened in our country's history is about to happen," he said.
"We think the country deserves to know what, in fact, what was the charge? What exactly was the scope and the mission when this was first given to him back last November?"
Jordan said he would like to compare it to, and overall be able to view a similar parameter memo given to Special Counsel Robert Hur – the former Maryland prosecutor tasked to investigate President Biden's alleged mishandling of classified information.
In Biden's case, classified materials were found at his estate in Greenville, Del., as well as reportedly at a University of Pennsylvania-leased building in Washington D.C.'s Chinatown before being relocated to the Penn Biden Center's headquarters.
