Jack Smith: The secrets of a cell phone (Getty Images)
Special Counsel Jack Smith has extracted data from Donald Trump's cell phone and intends to have an expert witness testify about his analysis of the material at the former president's criminal trial related to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, according to a report at Politico. Under the headline "Special counsel reveals plans to use Trump’s phone data at trial," reporters Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein report:
Special counsel Jack Smith has extracted data from the cell phone Donald Trump used while in the White House and plans to present evidence of his findings to a Washington, D.C., jury to demonstrate how Trump used the phone in the weeks during which he attempted to subvert the 2020 election.
In a court filing Monday, Smith indicated that he plans to call an expert witness who extracted and reviewed data copied from Trump’s phone, as well as a phone used by another unidentified individual in Trump’s orbit.
At first glance, this appears to be a huge problem for Trump, given that many powerful people have information about their entire lives, professional and personal, stored on their cell phones. And one can only imagine that Trump is an avid cell-phone user. At the moment, however, it is not clear just how much access Smith and his team had to Trump's phone. From the Politico report:
The data from Trump’s phone could reveal day-to-day details of his final weeks in office, including his daily movements, his Twitter habits and any other aides who had access to his accounts and devices. The data, for example, could help show whether Trump personally approved or sent a fateful tweet attacking his vice president, Mike Pence, during the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
It’s unclear, though, what the extent of Smith’s access to Trump’s phone was. While Smith described in the filing using the data to view images, websites and locations, it’s unclear if he accessed the substance of Trump’s communications or if anything was shielded due to executive privilege or other limits.
The expert's review apparently was fairly expansive. Write Cheney and Gerstein:
The trial in the case — in which Trump is charged with conspiring to disenfranchise millions of voters and derail the transfer of power — is scheduled to begin March 4.
The expert will describe to jurors “the usage of these phones throughout the post-election period, including on and around January 6, 2021,” when a mob of Trump supporters attacked the Capitol after Trump urged them to fight to “stop the steal.” The expert’s review also included “analyzing images found on the phones and websites visited.”
The combination of cell-phone data, along with evidence Smith's team has accumulated from other sources, could prove powerful in court:
The expert testimony is the first explanation of how Smith plans to deploy a massive trove of data that prosecutors obtained from Twitter about Trump’s use of his powerful account.
The expert, who is not identified by name in the filing, will be able to “specifically” identify “the periods of time during which the defendant’s phone was unlocked and the Twitter application was open on January 6.”
The filing is the latest glimpse into the extraordinary evidence Smith has amassed in his probe, including testimony from dozens of Trump’s closest aides and advisers, including former Vice President Mike Pence.
Prosecutors obtained a search warrant to access Trump’s Twitter data in January and ultimately obtained a massive cache of data culled from Trump’s account, including location data.
However, the prosecution filing stops short of claiming that the experts will be able to prove that activity on the phones directly involved Trump. Trump’s phones were routinely managed by others, including his social media manager, Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino.
Scavino has been found to to have manipulated video images to make it falsely appear President Joe Biden had fallen asleep during an interview.
