Former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe joined Maria Bartiromo this morning on Sunday Morning Futures.
During their conversation Via Midnight Rider, John Ratcliffe had the opportunity to weigh in on Jack Smith’s rejection this week by the Supreme Court.
John Ratcliffe: Stating the obvious, this was a big legal victory for President Trump and a big legal setback for Jack Smith. But I would argue that Jack Smith lost more than just a legal issue at the Supreme Court. He lost credibility. This may be his Mueller moment.
Your viewers remember when Special Counsel Bob Mueller struggled and stumbled to find an answer and ultimately couldn’t answer why he applied a different standard to Donald Trump than anyone else ever prosecuted or under investigation by the Department of Justice, meaning that Donald Trump had to conclusively prove his innocence rather than have a presumption of innocence as our bedrock standard.
Bob Mueller lost all credibility and he and his report drifted away. And I would submit that this is the Bob Mueller moment for Jack Smith because everyone remembers, Maria, that he stood before the American people when he indicted Donald Trump. And he said, we have one set of laws and they apply equally to everyone. Donald Trump will be treated the same as every other defendant. But when Donald Trump’s legal team came forward with a legal defense of presidential immunity that threatened a trial date taking place before the political election in 2020, Jack Smith did a 180 and he went to the Supreme Court and said, forget everything I told you. Now. Donald Trump is completely different.
This is extraordinary. We have to have an expedited review. You have to look at this immediately. And I think the Supreme Court, the way they rejected this unanimously with one sentence saying petition denied, I think reflects that they saw this for what we all saw, which is that the very same Justice Department that, you know, took six years to consider charges against a guy named Biden saying this was plenty fast. But when it comes to a guy named Trump, for some reason, we have to have this trial take place before the election.
Keep in mind, Maria, keep in mind that the speedy trial provisions of the 6th amendment are the defendants right, not the government’s. I think that this was nakedly partisan and overtly political, and it was revealed, told to the Supreme Court. That’s how Jack Smith is operating.
