- "90% of what you will hear until we get the indictment will be speculation," says a former prosecutor.
- So when will we see it?
So Trump has been indicted…again. Is this the big one? Is he toast?
Take a deep breath. We have no idea, and we won't know much until the indictment is unsealed.
That's the message from Ken White, a former federal prosecutor turned defense attorney, at least.
"90% of what you will hear until we get the indictment will be speculation," White wrote in an email to subscribers of his podcast with Josh Barro, "Serious Trouble."
The indictment will answer a barrage of questions, he said.
"What exactly is he charged with? What are the elements of those crimes — that is, what does the government have to prove? What are the potential penalties? (The real probable ones, not the silly statutory maxima you'll hear a lot in the news coverage.) What's the significance of where he was charged? What's next? How does a federal criminal case like this progress? Whose head has exploded most entertainingly? Is this, in fact, 'selective prosecution,' as Trump's lawyers are already yelling?"
As for when we might expect to see the indictment, White's prediction is as vague as the rest of the situation.
"As early as today or as late as Tuesday," he told Insider in an email.
The timing isn't so much strategy as it is bureaucracy, says White.
"Sometimes [an indictment] doesn't get unsealed until the first appearance [in court], sometimes it gets unsealed a little earlier. It may be more a bureaucratic delay than anything else."
"I've shown up to get the indictment at arraignment or gotten it days in advance and it may be just when they get around to making the request to unseal."
GOP pundits are calling for the the Department of Justice to release the indictment immediately. White says the DOJ should ignore them.
"If they release early the GOP will say it's selective prosecution, if they don't the GOP will say they're withholding. So they should just follow normal practices."