Jonathan Turley, a contributor to Fox News in addition to a law professor at George Washington University, stated on this week’s episode of the Fox News Channel’s “Special Report” that former President Trump’s indictment by Special Counsel Jack Smith “basically only accuses him with disinformation. This is a “disinformation indictment” that accuses people of “many” First Amendment-protected activities.
“There is more to this indictment than first appears,” according to Turley. “The most recent indictment, in my opinion, posed a very severe threat to Donald Trump. Much of this is reduced to a haiku when I go over it with a red pen to mark up passages that are First Amendment protected. Many of the accusations made here by the prosecutor constitute protected speech.”
“The most startling aspect of this charge,” he said, “is that it essentially just accuses him of spreading false information. This is an accusation of misinformation. It claims that you tainted the integrity of the election by disseminating untruths. All of that is protected by the First Amendment. He could have a reasonable chance with a D.C. jury and possibly a D.C. judge. However, I believe that the courts will view him with skepticism. He’ll struggle more with the legal system. And this makes me think of the McDonnell complaint, in which he sued the governor of Virginia, won a conviction, and the Supreme Court unanimously overturned it. The distance is too great.”
