MSNBC’s Barbara McQuade Says Likelihood of Trump Indictment This Time is ‘Higher Than I Might Otherwise Have Thought’

MSNBC legal analyst Barbara McQuade said on Friday that the likelihood of former President Donald Trump being indicted by the Department of Justice is “higher than [she] might otherwise have thought.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on Friday that former U.S. Attorney Jack Smith, who most recently worked as chief prosecutor for the special court in The Hague, will be the special counsel overseeing the DOJ investigations of Trump as it pertains to Jan. 6 and the documents seized from his Mar-a-Lago estate.

Appearing on MSNBC’s Katy Tur Reports, McQuade explained to fill-in host Chris Jansing:

From the way he chose his words, that Jack Smith is going to come in and simply oversee the work that’s already being done by a team of prosecutors. So it’s not reinventing from scratch. It’s just a new person to report to. He can get up to speed simultaneously while they’re doing their work. But the one thing I find most significant, Chris, is you don’t need to appoint a special counsel just to decline a case. You don’t call in a Jack Smith, someone with incredible credentials, incredible reputation, pull him out of The Hague to do this work, unless you think there is a very high likelihood that one of these cases is going to result in charges.

When asked by Jansing whether “it’s close” to there being an indictment of Trump, McQuade said the chances have increased.

“I don’t know whether it’s close or not close, because I think the timing was probably dictated by Donald Trump’s [2024 presidential] announcement,” she said. “But I do think that the likelihood that it will happen is higher than I might otherwise have thought because you don’t need to appoint a special counsel if you’re simply going to walk away from the cases.”

Watch above via MSNBC.

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