Staff Reports
In a shocking turn of events, special counsel Jack Smith has revealed that he managed to snag some juicy data from former President Donald Trump’s phone. The special counsel was all up in Trump’s smartphone, extracting data like it was no big deal. And now, he’s planning on using this information against the former president in his prosecution for supposedly interfering in the 2020 election.
Seizure of Trump’s smartphone data puts special counsel in uncharted legal watershttps://t.co/SrDVlt2eAR pic.twitter.com/yZJVfOwIpY
— The Washington Times (@WashTimes) January 2, 2024
Now, for all you freedom-loving folks out there, this is setting off some major alarms. Mike Davis, founder and president of the Article III Project, called out this blatant invasion of privacy, declaring that this move by Smith is totally crossing the line when it comes to executive privilege. It’s a direct attack on the sanctity of the presidency, with potential far-reaching implications for future administrations. We’re talking about a serious undermining of the president’s ability to have confidential and candid communication with his advisors. This just ain’t right, folks.
The presidential immunity, which is hanging over Trump’s head like a dark cloud. The man himself is claiming that he’s immune to these criminal charges because, well, he was the big cheese in the White House when all this allegedly went down. He’s even tried to get the charges dismissed, citing presidential immunity, but the Supreme Court shut that down real quick. So now, we’re heading to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to duke it out over this whole immunity biz.
And if that wasn’t enough, Smith is gearing up to throw Trump’s smartphone data right into the mix at trial. The special counsel wants to show the jury when Trump’s phone was “unlocked and the Twitter application was open” during the Capitol riot back in January 2021.
And just to add fuel to the fire, legal experts are chiming in, all but shaking their heads at the whole situation. Some are saying that Smith’s move to seize Trump’s electronic data is legally A-OK, thanks to a little history lesson involving President Nixon and his audio tapes. But, hold on just a minute – the Supreme Court has also ruled that nabbing cell phone records without a warrant is a big no-no according to the Fourth Amendment. So, Trump might have a fighting chance to push back against the use of his phone data at trial.
It’s a real hot mess, and it’s got Trump’s legal team feeling some serious angst. They’ve got every reason to be totally freaking out, especially after learning that Smith’s crew got their hands on location data and draft tweets straight from the big man himself. And to top it off, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was Trump’s ride-or-die lawyer, seems to be tangled up in this smartphone saga too. Smith’s people have been going through Giuliani’s phone data as well as Trump’s.
