A letter that was sent to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland from Donald Trump’s lawyers’ is a desperate “propaganda piece” that signals fear of a coming indictment, former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade wrote on Sunday in an opinion piece for MSNBC.
In her piece, McQuade wrote that last Tuesday’s letter to Garland requesting a meeting to discuss special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the former president over classified documents that were found at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence last summer was a “gimmick” designed to inflame passions and control the narrative.
In the letter to the attorney general, Trump lawyers John Rowley and James Trusty requested a meeting to discuss “the ongoing injustice” of Smith’s dual investigations into the former president’s attempts to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election and issues surrounding his post-presidency handling of the classified documents.
“President Trump is being treated unfairly,” the lawyers wrote in the letter, which was shared by the ex-president on his social media platform, Truth Social. “No President of the United States has ever, in the history of our country, been baselessly investigated in such an outrageous and unlawful fashion.”
Former acting U.S. Solicitor General Neal Katyal also issued similar sentiments on Wednesday saying to MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace that the letter is a “last-ditch effort.”
“It’s the kind of thing you do right before you think you’re about to be indicted, and it is likely—almost certainly—going nowhere,” he said.
As for when a Trump indictment from Smith might be issued, Katyal said that given “the scope of the investigation” and “how it heated up in the last few weeks,” his “expectation is this is going to be soon.”
Meanwhile, political analyst Craig Agranoff told Newsweek on Sunday that Trump’s letter to Garland is “essential to carefully examine the intentions and context behind such correspondence. While some may perceive it as a desperate move or a gimmick, it’s crucial to await further developments and gather more information before drawing conclusions.”
When asked about why Trump’s legal team sent the letter to Garland instead of Smith, Agranoff added: “It’s possible that Trump believed Garland to be the more relevant authority in this particular case. Whether this situation will lead to an indictment is uncertain, and it’s best to let the legal process unfold and determine the outcome.”
Political analyst and Dillard University professor Robert Collins also told Newsweek on Sunday that, “Trump attorneys asked the Attorney General directly, because they believe that a case involving a former president should only be handled directly by the Attorney General. This is basically a desperate Hail Mary pass by his attorneys. It will not work. It will not end the indictment, nor will it change the timeline of the prosecution.”
Collins added that the letter itself reads like Trump wrote it.
“Looking at the actual language of the letter, it was clear that a large portion of the letter was written by Donald Trump himself, and not the attorneys. It sounds like more of a press release than a legal document,” he said.
Trump, who is running for president again in 2024, has faced other legal battles this year. Last Tuesday, New York Judge Juan Merchan set a trial date for March 25, 2024, in the case against Trump where he’s accused of allegedly falsifying business records in connection to hush money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Proceedings in the case will begin just weeks after the first-in-the-nation Republican presidential primary caucus in Iowa next February.
In addition, there are also reports that Trump could be indicted in Georgia as part of an investigation into whether he committed a crime by calling Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” more than 11,000 votes to overturn the 2020 election results in the state.
The former president has frequently denied all allegations and wrongdoings in connection to the investigations into him, frequently describing them all as a “witch hunt.”