Neal Katyal, a longtime lawyer who has often argued before the U.S. Supreme Court and briefly led the U.S. Solicitor General’s office when Barack Obama was in power, said in an interview with Jen Psaki on MSNBC that he expects additional criminal charges from the federal investigation that already produced charges accusing Donald Trump of what was essentially election interference.
That criminal case originates with Special Counsel Jack Smith at the federal Justice Department, and there have been signs of ongoing work from the investigators even as the federal team continues pursuing its case against the former president himself in court. A CNN report outlined recent interest from Smith’s corner in financing around the efforts after the 2020 presidential election to assemble supposedly supporting evidence for the false claims of widespread fraud. Additionally, a grand jury that’s worked on the investigation also recently gathered once again. It’s this body that could approve additional charges against Trump or other defendants after hearing more evidence, which could implicate the unindicted co-conspirators already named in the case facing Trump.
Katyal referenced the issue of obstruction, something that’s already been formally alleged in the other criminal case from Smith against Trump, which concerns the classified documents the former president harbored after leaving office, which he claims were declassified. Donald Trump’s modus operandi “is obstruction of justice,” Katyal asserted. “It’s interference. It’s using one lawyer for a bunch of co-defendants to try and get them all singing on the same page. We’ve seen this already in the Mar-a-Lago stolen documents investigation.” Katyal referenced the circumstances surrounding an individual who has been identified as an IT specialist for Mar-a-Lago, who has reportedly been cooperating with prosecutors in tandem with ditching a lawyer who traced back to Trump.
“I suspect something similar might happen with respect to January 6 as well,” Katyal said of the investigation into potential obstruction seen in the documents case, explaining his expectation for additional charges from the election-related investigation.
