“In accusing former President Donald Trump of conspiring to subvert American democracy, the special counsel, Jack Smith, charged the same story three different ways,” the New York Times reports.
“The charges are novel applications of criminal laws to unprecedented circumstances, heightening legal risks, but Mr. Smith’s tactic gives him multiple paths in obtaining and upholding a guilty verdict.”
Said law professor Julie O’Sullivan: “Especially in a case like this, you want to have multiple charges that are applicable or provable with the same evidence, so that if on appeal you lose one, you still have the conviction.”
“That structure in the indictment is only one of several strategic choices by Mr. Smith — including what facts and potential charges he chose to include or omit — that may foreshadow and shape how an eventual trial of Mr. Trump will play out.”
