Trump is controlling his narrative, but 'in reality he's back on his heels,' former federal prosecutor argues

• The 37 federal charges against former President Donald Trump were unsealed on Friday.
• Trump announced the indictment on Truth Social and has been pushing his narrative since Thursday.

Former President Donald Trump has been attempting to control the narrative around his indictment since he announced it was coming on Truth Social Thursday night.

While that puts him at a public relations advantage over special counsel Jack Smith, it doesn't mean he's clear of serious legal peril.

On Thursday, the Trump camp immediately began to employ a familiar playbook: Deny, attack, deflect, and gather GOP allies and right-wing media to go on offense. On Friday, per a Washington Post report, one adviser said of the initial response: "We are getting pretty good at this."

And that will be challenging for the Department of Justice when it comes to educating the public on the charges, given its limited ability to discuss the case before trial.

"I just think one of the things that's challenging here is that in a case like this, is the public just still doesn't have the full story — like access to all of the information that the case is based on," Sarah Krissoff, a former federal prosecutor with the Southern District of New York, and current defense attorney at Day Pitney, said on Friday.

"They can't be posting on Truth Social," Krissoff said of the DOJ: "They are not allowed to do that."

The more than 40-page indictment unsealed on Friday afternoon, along with a short press conference that Smith held, and any future court appearances and filings are all the Department of Justice can present to the public regarding the 37 felony charges levied against the former president.

During his first and only public appearance, Smith urged the public to read the document fully "to understand the scope and gravity of the crimes charged."

Krissoff, however, is skeptical that the public will read the entire indictment.

Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

That does not mean Trump is out of the woods

The government's inability to discuss the case until the trial puts Trump, from a public relations standpoint, "in the driver's seat with regards to some of this, when in fact, in reality, he's back on his heels," Krissoff explained.

"These are really serious allegations with his liberty at risk, but by taking control of the narrative he's changed his story a little bit," she continued.

Krissoff noted the DOJ had the option of a very limited indictment or a detailed one, and with more than 40 pages, the indictment is indeed detailed — and damning.

Despite blustering campaign stops over the weekend and the Trump team's premise that the indictment could work in his favor, helping to fundraise and harden his base, there's an understanding among GOP allies — even by some on Fox News, which went wall-to-wall defending Trump on Thursday night before the specific charges were released — that the case is damaging.

Fox News legal commentator Jonathan Turley called the indictment "damning" on Friday when the specific charges related to obstruction on violations of the Espionage Act were revealed. And thus far, only one of his 2024 GOP rivals, Vivek Ramaswamy, has promised to pardon him if he's convicted and they are elected. While some rivals have gone after the DOJ following the indictment, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie called the indictment "damaging" and Trump's former Attorney General Bill Barr had similar words, telling Fox News Sunday: "He's not a victim here."

"I think the DOJ put forth a pretty strong case," Krissoff, who used to work as part of the Public Corruption Unit in the US attorney's office on cases against Democrats and Republicans. "And that's going to be an uphill battle for Trump's team to fight this thing."

Krissoff notes that the case is narrow, and they charged "the best case they have" — for example, the counts related to the conspiracy to obstruct justice are limited in time starting on May 11, 2022, when a grand jury issued a subpoena to Trump's office asking for all documents with classified markings and the date of the search warrant for Mar-a-Lago in August of 2022.

"They're on much firmer ground to show that the former president knew what he had and that it wasn't some sort of inadvertent possession at that point," she explained.

She also noted the well of evidence that the DOJ has to support the charges against Trump — including evidence that appears to corroborate the testimony of potential witnesses, such as recordings and contemporaneous notes.

A potential Trump reprieve?

The former President may find some leeway through the judge that hears the case: District Judge Aileen Cannon, who he appointed in 2020 and who has ruled in his favor before.

Former prosecutor and current defense attorney Ken White previously told Insider's Nich Carlson that Cannon can "delay things forever by making rulings that can't be appealed. She can make rulings that while they don't tank the case, make it very difficult, like excluding evidence by saying evidence was wrongfully gathered."

And if Trump is convicted, the judge has a large say, within the guidelines, of whether he ever sees prison time.

The DOJ declined to comment. Trump's team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.