In his latest national media appearance, former federal prosecutor Shan Wu weighed in on the question of former President Donald Trump’s potential criminal charges for an article in Newsweek.
The potential for Trump to be charged with fraud has been a burning question in the media ever since the FBI raided Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago in August. With many wondering whether Trump will be charged before the Midterm elections in November, there is quite a bit of political and legal uncertainty around the case.
But Shan thinks that legal action before the Midterms is unlikely. Read about his contribution to the discussion in Newsweek below, as well as his other recent media appearances discussing the saga of Trump’s fraud conspiracy.
An arrest before Midterms is unlikely
The Department of Justice has had a longstanding policy against taking investigative steps or filing charges within 60 days of an election, to prevent prosecutors from influencing the outcome of that election. Much of the controversy over the DOJ and FBI’s recent steps in the Trump case has been regarding this potential influence, as Trump has endorsed over 400 candidates in this election cycle.
However, despite the fearmongering, Shan thinks it’s unlikely that charges will be brought before the November 8 elections, for a number of reasons:
- The Trump team’s legal antics have set back the DOJ’s timeline significantly.
- The DOJ only just received the classified documents back recently.
- Trump-appointed U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon has ruled that the timeline for document review will be extended into mid-December.
For all of the above reasons, Shan argues that a charge before November 8 would be highly unusual.
In addition, Shan pushed back against the idea that the DOJ’s actions have been politically motivated.
For example, Shan pointed out that Trump politicized the attorney general’s office with his appointment of Bill Barr far more than Biden’s DOJ has been politicized.
“In fact, Trump wanted Barr to be even more of a political weapon than he actually was,” Shan explained.
The fraud conspiracy is bigger than just Trump
The question of whether Trump should be charged before or after the midterm elections aside, it’s clear in Shan’s view that he should be charged at some point.
In an interview for CNN in September, Shan described the tax fraud case against former President Trump as “open and shut.”
And in an article for the Daily Beast, Shan made the case that a number of prominent businesses and banks are implicated in the Trump organization’s fraudulent schemes.
As a former federal prosecutor and a current defense attorney, Shan understands the inequalities that sometimes plague our legal system. That’s why he believes it’s so crucial that Trump be held accountable for his crimes.
