Critics say Trump's criminal "admission" may help Jack Smith convict him for election interference

The former president might not have realized how his words could be used against him in a court of law

By Nandika Chatterjee

News Fellow

Published September 5, 2024 12:04PM (EDT)

Special Counsel Jack Smith (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Special Counsel Jack Smith (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Donald Trump unwittingly admitted that he interfered in the 2020 election, thus awarding Jack Smith the break he needed in the federal election interference case the special agent has tirelessly been trying to uphold against the former president. 

During a Fox News interview that aired Sunday, the GOP candidate told host Mark Levin mid-rant that he had “every right” to overturn the 2020 election. His comments came just days after special counsel Jack Smith obtained a superseding indictment against Trump, CNBC reported.

When complaining about the Justice Department’s criminal charges against him, Trump stumbled into an admission Smith certainly didn’t see coming: “Whoever heard you get indicted for interfering with a presidential election where you have every right to do it, you get indicted, and your poll numbers go up?” he said. “When people get indicted, your poll numbers go down. But it was such, such nonsense.”

Now the former president’s public statement can be used against him as everything he says is admissible in criminal trial.

Rep. Ted Lieu (D- Cal) wrote on X “Dear @realDonaldTrump: Are you seriously this stupid? You think President Biden has the right to interfere in the upcoming election? Do you want VP Harris to do what you tried to get former VP Mike Pence to do? Are you really this dumb?”

Lawyer George Conway, a conservative lawyer and Trump critic, slammed the former president for his remarks on Fox. He said  that Trump's comments are “an admission that he tried to interfere with the election and that he wasn’t trying to enforce federal law. And that’s a crime.”


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