Jack Smith’s ‘October Surprise’ was not that surprising…and that is the problem
by Jonathan Turley, Opinion Contributor - 10/05/24 10:30 AM ET
“The most stupendous and atrocious fraud.” Those words from federal prosecutors could have been ripped from the filing this week of Special Counsel Jack Smith defending his prosecution of former President Donald Trump.
Yet they were actually from a Justice Department filing 184 years ago, just days from the 1840 presidential election. Democratic President Martin Van Buren was struggling for reelection against Whig William Henry Harrison, and his Justice Department waited until just before voters went to the polls to allege that Whig Party officials had paid Pennsylvanians to travel to New York to vote for Whig candidates two years earlier.
It was considered by many to be the first “October Surprise,” the last-minute pre-election scandal or major event intended to sway voters.
To avoid such allegations of political manipulation of cases, the Justice Department has long followed a policy against making potentially influential filings within 60 or 90 days of an election. One section of the Justice Department manual states “Federal prosecutors… may never select the timing of any action, including investigative steps, criminal charges, or statements, for the purpose of affecting any election.”
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https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/4917230-justice-department-october-surprise/
