Marc Thiessen: Imagine what would happen if Trump is acquitted
Former Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen tells 'The Story' the Biden DOJ could essentially elect Trump to a second term if he's acquitted at trial.
If former President Trump is acquitted at a trial before the 2024 presidential election, Joe Biden's Justice Department could be responsible for electing him to a second term, a former George W, Bush speechwriter said Tuesday.
Washington Post columnist and former Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen told Fox News only one juror in a Miami courtroom needs to lodge a not-guilty verdict for the Trump to be acquitted in his case, which is fueled by a 37-count indictment on charges related to alleged mishandling of classified documents. A conviction on one of the charges could essentially mean prison for the rest of the 77-year-old Trump's life.
"Imagine what would happen if Donald Trump was acquitted of this," Thiessen said on "The Story."
"The trial probably [will] happen right before the [Republican National] Convention."
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Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a 2024 election campaign rally in Waco, Texas, March 25, 2023. (SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP via Getty Images)
He noted Trump received a marked increase in public approval in polls after the last special counsel, ex-FBI Director Robert Mueller III, did not indict Trump on charges relating to the Russia investigation – and that the first impeachment proceeding helped his poll numbers as well.
"Before COVID, everybody thought he was a shoo-in for re-election," Thiessen said. "Can you imagine the bump he would get – not just with Republicans but with the public in general – if he were acquitted of these charges?"
"It would mean the Biden Justice Department probably elected Donald Trump to his second term as president."
Plus, Trump's poll numbers for 2024 were boosted after Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg indictment him for am alleged hush money scheme back in March.
Former New York federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy added that prosecutors released an itemized list of the classified documents found in Trump's possession – delineating the time span the former president held the document and a synopsis of what the sensitive contents were.
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Marc Thiessen, a former George W. Bush aide. (Outnumbered/Screengrab)
In that way, he said, there should be no reason why a similar list cannot be compiled by the feds on President Biden, who has also been found to have had classified documents in his possession. Some of these documents are said to be decades old from the time he was in the U.S. Senate representing Delaware.
Biden is currently under special counsel investigation from former Maryland federal prosecutor Rob Hur, and classified documents have been found in the garage at his Greenville, Del. estate, the Penn-Biden Center in Washington and an office in Chinatown, D.C.
Republicans have accused Biden of illegally taking some of the documents from a SCIF (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility) – strictly secured rooms where federal lawmakers can view but not remove classified information.
"Joe Biden not only wrongly stored classified documents in an unsecured location while Vice President, he also stole classified documents from when he was in the Senate, keeping them in his house irresponsibly. He is a grave threat to our national security," House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik of New York said in January.
On "The Story," Fox News contributor Juan Williams said that nobody is above the law, but that Trump should be given the opportunity to make his case just as any other American is afforded.
"The state does not have power to put you in jail," he said, noting that is up to either a judge or jury of one's peers.