The lead investigator on the House Select Committee looking into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on Congress thinks former President Donald Trump's team will deliver a "forceful response" to Jack Smith's new superseding indictment of Trump.
On Tuesday, a Washington, D.C. grand jury passed down a re-indictment of Trump involving the Jan. 6 attacks and the attempt to overthrow the 2020 election.
Speaking to MSNBC on Tuesday, Tim Heaphy predicted that Trump's team would move forward with a "forceful" response challenging the indictment and claiming the U.S. Supreme Court determined he was immune from all prosecution. Trump's lawyers have argued as such in filings in the Florida secret documents case.
Read also: Ron Johnson finally admits Jan. 6 was violent — then blames it on 'outside agitators'
"The superseding indictment is a sign that the Department of Justice, to the extent people care about the Department of Justice or respect it, continues to believe that there's no immunity for these acts and that there's criminal conduct," said Heaphy.
"I expect a forceful response to that, both in court and on the courthouse steps or on TV from the former president. His legal and political strategy seems to be almost all force," he also said.
Heaphy also observed that the new filing still mentions Vice President Mike Pence despite the two men's conversations in the Oval Office.
"I do think the former president has at least a reasonable argument that discussions between the president and the vice president about the extent and nature of the vice president's authority could be construed as official," he explained.
Heaphy anticipated that special counsel Jack Smith would either say that the conversation between Pence and Trump was as a candidate, even though it was between the president and his vice president.
"Or alternatively, even if it is within the president's official function, it isn't immunized because prosecution of that act would not impair the effective functioning," he said.
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