'Integrated conspiracy': Experts reveal Jack Smith's Supreme Court contingency plan

Special counsel Jack Smith may have a contingency plan if the Supreme Court gives Trump a win, according to a new analysis.

The Supreme Court heard former President Donald Trump's claim to presidential immunity from the federal election conspiracy case last week — and while it's unlikely they will totally throw out the charges, some legal experts think they might find certain official presidential acts could be immune from prosecution.

They might punt back to the lower courts to decide which parts of the indictment can and can't move forward, a complication that could further delay the case.

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But according to the New York Times, there's a possible way Smith could move ahead in this event.

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According to reporter Charlie Savage, Smith's attorney Michael Drebeen as good as told the justices what they would do at oral argument: he "said that even if the court ruled out basing charges on Mr. Trump’s official actions, prosecutors believed that they could still lawfully present evidence about the official conduct as relevant context that would help jurors understand Mr. Trump’s private acts. 'There’s really an integrated conspiracy here that had different components,' Mr. Dreeben said. Mr. Trump, he added, used his official powers to try to ensure his private efforts to overturn the election were more likely to succeed, and the jury will need to see the entire picture to understand the sequence, why each step occurred and the gravity of the conduct."

Trump's attorney John Sauer, on the other hand, urged the court to pre-emptively rule out even using official acts as evidence, not simply as the basis for charges.

However, the report noted, "Samuel Buell, a Duke University professor of criminal law, said it was 'quite ordinary' that information is admitted as relevant evidence even though it is not about an action that would itself be subject to a criminal charge" — especially in cases where the alleged crime took place over a long time span and had multiple alleged co-conspirators.

Even if this happens, the Supreme Court ruling immunity exists for some of Trump's actions could add months more to a trial that is already facing long odds to be heard before the election.

All of this comes as Trump stands trial in a separate case in Manhattan.

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