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The Supreme Court rejecting Jack Smith's request to expedite former President Donald Trump's presidential immunity claims is a win for the former president — but he is far from out of the woods yet, argued former White House ethics czar Norm Eisen on a CNN panel Friday.

"There are ... accelerating factors that may come into play," said Eisen. "The Supreme Court, when it gets it, may simply say, as they did in Trump v. Thompson, the big case about whether Congress could investigate Trump and could pierce the executive privilege, cert denied. They did the same thing when the special master was appointed, 11th Circuit overturned that in the Mar-a-Lago documents case. They refused to hear it. That could be an accelerant ... and another thing that could accelerate, the D.C. Circuit has the power to turn the stay of the case down or off."

"Personally, I think Jack Smith was too conservative in not fighting to say, I want to do those things that will keep the case going, like jury selection, I just won't empanel the jury," he continued. "This panel is going to be by reading their opinions, studying their careers. They think this immunity is inimical to American law, it's borderline frivolous."

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But one of the biggest potential issues for Trump, he said, is that he's still facing other state-level cases — and one, Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg's business fraud case, already has a trial date ready to go.

Bragg, said Eisen, "didn't count on all these projections and schedules and orders. He said, I'm a prosecutor, I've got a trial date, March 25th, 2024, and he's reaffirmed that he's ready to go. So we will see a case."

"And that brings in this polling where the American people, in that big New York Times/Siena poll, a 14-point swing in the six swing states if there's a conviction," he added. "So it is going to be a very unpredictable calendar politically and legally in the first six months of 2024."

Watch the video below or at the link.

Norm Eisen says Alvin Bragg is still ready to go www.youtube.com

After a series of losses before Judge Cannon, Special Counsel Jack Smith has secured a partial victory over former president Donald Trump.

Smith, who is prosecuting Trump over the alleged retention of numerous classified documents at Trump's Mar-a-Lago golf resort in Florida, asked the court to begin the process of discussing jury questionnaires and set a timeline by which he would like to do so.

Trump filed a brief challenging that motion, saying the prosecutor's "concern about 'insufficient time to implement' jury selection measures is entirely illusory and based exclusively on the partisan talismanic significance they have assigned to May 20, 2024." Smith replied in turn, calling out what he called the Trump team's "baseless accusations."

Cannon, who has been accused of favoring Trump in her rulings, has granted Smith a partial victory by adopting a tentative schedule.

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"Judge Cannon gives Jack Smith a partial W on prepping a jury questionnaire - ordering up a joint version by Feb. 28 with clear denoting of areas of disagreement. Smith wanted it by Feb. 2," The Messenger editor Darren Samuelsohn wrote Friday.

"On or before February 28, 2024, the parties shall meaningfully confer and file a joint jury questionnaire for the Court's consideration, clearly denoting any areas of agreement and disagreement," the brief ruling states. "The court reserves ruling on the specific process by which questionnaires will be transmitted/completed."

The court added that its ruling "shall not be construed as modifying the instructions and deadlines" already set by Cannon.

Donald Trump will not be given special sentencing treatment if convicted of conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election, says Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

CNN caught up with Willis at an event on Thursday.

"I know that in the media, and even in the world, we like instant gratification," Willis explained. "The judicial process is a long process, and so we'll be here with that case for a while."

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The reporter asked the district attorney if Trump would go to prison.

"I think that everyone in society is the same, and I don't know why that's such a difficult concept for people," she replied. "You can look at the charges, and based on those charges, we'll be recommending appropriate sentences. No one gets a special break because of their status."

Watch the video below from CNN or click here.

Special Counsel Jack Smith plans to introduce as evidence election fraud claims former President Donald Trump made during his successful 2016 campaign, new court filings show.

Smith filed Tuesday a disclosure notice detailing historic evidence the lead prosecutor plans to introduce in the Washington D.C. federal court case against Trump, court records show.

"These statements sowed mistrust in the results of the presidential election and laid the foundation for the defendant’s criminal efforts," Smith argues. "In addition to this intrinsic evidence of false statements about the election, the Government will offer evidence reflecting the defendant’s historical record of making such claims."

“The defendant’s false claims about the 2012 and 2016 elections are admissible because they demonstrate the defendant’s common plan of falsely blaming fraud for election results he does not like,” Smith writes, “as well as his motive, intent, and plan to obstruct the certification of the 2020 election results and illegitimately retain power.”

Smith cites a tweet written by Trump on Oct. 17, 2016, one week after the Washington Post published the damning “grab them by the p----” video experts believed at the time would torpedo his campaign.

“Of course there is large scale fraud happening on and before election day,” Trump wrote, according to the filing. “Why do Republican leaders deny what is going on? So naive!”

That same month, at a presidential debate moderated by Fox News’ Chris Wallace, Trump was asked if he would accept the election results. Smith seeks to submit Trump's response.

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“There is a tradition in this country — in fact, one of the prides of this country — is the peaceful transition of power and that no matter how hard-fought a campaign is, that at the end of the campaign the loser concedes to the winner,” Wallace said.

“Not saying that you’re necessarily going to be the loser or the winner, but that the loser concedes to the winner and that the country comes together in part for the good of the country. Are you saying you’re not prepared now to commit to that principle?”

“What I’m saying is that I will tell you at the time,” Trump replied. “I’ll keep you in suspense. OK?”

His opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, was quick to chime in, the transcript shows.

“Let me respond to that, because that’s horrifying,” Clinton said. “You know, every time Donald thinks things are not going in his direction, he claims whatever it is, is rigged against him.”

Smith also plans to include voter fraud claims from 2012, when former President Barack Obama defeated his conservative challenger, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), and a disturbing media interview in September 2020 when a journalist once again asked Trump if he would commit himself to the peaceful transition of power.

“Well, we’re going to have to see what happens,” Trump replied, according to the filing. “There won’t be a transfer, frankly; there’ll be a continuation. The ballots are out of control. You know it.”

Smith is leading the charge in two of four criminal cases against the former president in Washington D.C., where he stands accused of conspiring to defraud the U.S., and Florida, where Trump stands accused of corruptly concealing a document or record. He has pleaded not guilty in both cases.

In his Tuesday filing, the prosecutor argues Trump's election fraud comments prove motive and intent to overturn the election he lost to President Joe Biden.

“The defendant’s false claims about the 2012 and 2016 elections are admissible because they demonstrate the defendant’s common plan of falsely blaming fraud for election results he does not like,” Smith writes, “as well as his motive, intent, and plan to obstruct the certification of the 2020 election results and illegitimately retain power.”

Klete Keller, who once competed in the Olympics as a swimmer and won a gold medal, is due to be sentenced Friday for participating in the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, NBC News reported.

Keller pleaded guilty in September 2021 to a felony charge of obstruction of an official proceeding. Prosecutors are asking for a sentence of 10 months in federal prison — lower than guidelines recommend since he cooperated with investigators after his arrest.

"Klete Derik Keller once wore the American flag as an Olympian," prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo. "On January 6, 2021, he threw that flag in a trash can."

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Prosecutors added that for "nearly three years, Keller has cooperated with the government’s investigation into the attack on the Capitol — repeatedly meeting with the government to describe everyone around him and everything that happened leading up to and on Jan. 6. He has provided substantial assistance and has expressed remorse for his crimes."

They added that Keller's actions "will forever be a stain on this country’s narrative, and it continues to impact our ability to credibly lead by example as a democratic republic." As a former Olympian, they added, Keller "was in a unique position to know better."

Keller "repeatedly resisted officers’ attempts to remove him from the building, at one point jerking his elbow away," according to prosecutors.

Read more at NBC News.

Florida governor and 2024 presidential candidate Ron DeSantis made a return to capital punishment in his state a key element of his "tough on crime" campaign messaging this past year, and the result was an overall increase in the use of the death penalty in the United States, according to a new annual report.

The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) found that although a majority of U.S. states—29 of them—have now either abolished the death penalty or enacted a moratorium on executions, the number of people killed by state governments rose from 18 in 2022 to 25 in 2023.

The group attributed the rise to Florida's return to capital punishment after a four-year hiatus, with DeSantis moving forward with the executions of six people—the highest number in the state since 2014.

The state's new pattern of putting Floridians to death showed no sign of slowing down in the coming year, as it also imposed five new death sentences—the most of any state in 2023.

The DPIC catalogued other laws signed by DeSantis this year as he joined the Republican presidential primary race, in which he is currently trailing former Republican President Donald Trump by more than 47 points, with an average of 12.6% of Republicans backing him according to the latest polls.

In April Florida passed a law allowing the state to execute people convicted of sexual battery of a child under the age of 12 in cases in which the victim is not killed—a law that conflicts with a 2008 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down a similar statute in Louisiana.

DeSantis also approved a law giving Florida the lowest threshold in the U.S. for permitting juries to sentence a convicted criminal to death, allowing a death sentence if only eight out of 12 jurors agree. Only Alabama and Florida allow non-unanimous juries to impose a death sentence, and Alabama's threshold is 10 jurors.

Florida also holds the country's record for the highest number of exonerations from death row, with 30 people exonerated—the majority after being sentenced by non-unanimous juries.

"It should be hard to send someone to the death penalty," Randolph Bracy, a former Democratic Florida state senator who pushed to require a unanimous jury vote for death sentences, toldThe New York Times when DeSantis signed the bill. "Florida has the highest rate of wrongful convictions, I think, in the country. We needed that threshold to make sure that we were doing the right thing."

As DeSantis' policies led to an increase in executions in the U.S., the DPIC reported that the Florida governor is out of step with a growing number of Americans. For the first time this year, Gallup found that 50% of Americans believe the death penalty is administered unfairly, while only 47% believe it is used fairly.

"That important change can also be seen in the unprecedented show of support for death-sentenced prisoners from conservative lawmakers and elected officials this year, some of whom now oppose use of the death penalty in their state," said Robin M. Maher, executive director of DPIC.

Richard Glossip, who was convicted of a 1997 murder in Oklahoma and sentenced to death earlier this year, was issued a stay of execution in May after the state's Republican attorney general joined campaigners who had long advocated for Glossip's life to be spared.

The DPIC found that a majority of the people who were executed in 2023—79% of whom had impairments such as brain injuries, serious childhood trauma, or developmental disabilities—would likely not have received death sentences had they been tried today, "due to significant changes in the law, prosecutorial decision-making, and public attitudes over the past few decades."

"Today," said the group, "they would have powerful arguments for life sentences and decisions from juries who better understand the effects of mental illness, developmental impairments, and severe trauma."