David Kelley, a former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, on Tuesday summarized what now likely awaits former President Donald Trump in the special counsel probe into the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Trump on Tuesday claimed he’d received “a target letter” from special prosecutor Jack Smith, which the former president said in a social media post gave him “a very short 4 days to report to the Grand Jury, which almost always means an Arrest and Indictment.”
“From the perspective of a defense lawyer, the last thing you ever want in the world is to get a target letter,” Kelley told MSNBC’s Ari Melber.
“It means to you you’re done,” he added. “It means you’re going to get indicted.”
The letter was “not like a subpoena.”
It’s “a big deal” and “must have set off an awful lot of alarms” in the Trump camp, he added.
Kelley called it an “historic moment … and it’s a sad moment.”
The reported letter adds to Trump’s myriad legal woes.
The former president has been indicted for allegedly mishandling classified documents. He also faces trial next year in the Stormy Daniels hush money payment case, while remaining under investigation for his attempts to overturn the 2020 election result in Georgia.