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Sunday February 23, 2025

Harvard professor points out major flaw in election case against Donald Trump

Laurence Tribe observes a component that could have the legal system "wiped away"

By Web Desk
August 02, 2023
Former US president Donald Trump addresses a crowd of supporters on his birthday in Miami, Florida, on 14 June 2023. — AFP
Former US president Donald Trump addresses a crowd of supporters on his birthday in Miami, Florida, on 14 June 2023. — AFP

A Harvard law professor while adding to the criticism garnered by Donald Trump's investigations, termed the latest indictment against the former US president as “brilliant,” but said there is a component that could make the entire situation irrelevant.

HuffPost reported that Laurence Tribe, a Harvard constitutional law professor, praised Special Counsel Jack Smith's probe into Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 US presidential elections.

However, he revealed that there is one factor that may spoil the action: Timing.

While discussing Attorney General Merrick Garland's efforts to proceed with the probes during an interview with MSNBC on Tuesday, Tribe said: “I do think that [Attorney General] Merrick Garland did not proceed as fast as he might have."

He warned that such serious actions against Trump could possibly "drag on" to the next presidency and jeopardise the system if Trump or any Republican wins the election next year.

He continued: "As a result, the case against Trump over his actions leading up to the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol could drag on into the next presidency.

“If the next presidency is held either by Donald Trump or by one of his acolytes or by virtually any Republican, there is the horrible prospect that this will all be wiped away."

He added: “And that it will be relegated to a kind of a historic footnote.”

As several 2024 GOP contenders have said that they would pardon Trump if elected, Tribe said that it is a reminder of how “vulnerable and fragile” the legal system is.

“We have a system that might go too slowly, that might be too opaque,” he said. “And a system that is not at all guaranteed to triumph over politics.”

Donald Trump has been indicted for the third time, this time around in connection with his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.

This is the first time in history that a former US president is facing three criminal indictments since he started his 2024 Republican nomination bid. No other past or current president has ever been charged with a crime.

Trump earlier made his expectations clear in a post on his Truth Social platform, where he accused special counsel Jack Smith of planning to release another "Fake Indictment" against him.