'Obvious' detail in Jack Smith's wind-down could spell trouble for Trump allies: expert

A journalist known for her work in national security flagged a little-talked-about — but "fairly obvious" — detail amid reports that special counsel Jack Smith is winding down his election subversion cases against President-elect Donald Trump.

Marcy Wheeler took to her blog Emptywheel on Wednesday to remark on media reports that Smith is winding down his cases, facing threats from Trump of being fired and even deported.

"I would fire him within two seconds,” Trump has said.

But news outlets are "not mentioning a fairly obvious detail," she pointed out.

"According to governing regulations, when a Special Counsel finishes his work, he must write a report to the Attorney General," she said.

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That means if Smith's cases are finished, he will have to write a report, even as former Trump Attorney General Bill Barr and others are "yapping their mouths" about the special counsel tossing the cases.

"By telling the press that Smith is already working on shutting down the cases, Smith pre-empts any effort from Trump to offer another solution — and does so before Trump files his response to the immunity brief on November 21," she noted.

Wheeler added: "In other words, this may be no more than an effort to get one more bite at the apple, to describe what Smith found, which would be particularly important if there are still undisclosed aspects of the case, as I suggested there might be."

Trump allies such as Rudi Giuliani and Steve Bannon, she said, could've faced prosecution, though Trump would in all likelihood kill those cases.