But the Justice Department moved the investigation to a Miami grand jury in its final few weeks before charging Trump in South Florida’s federal court because much of Trump’s allegedly criminal actions took place at Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida.
Prosecutors have publicly disclosed little about the choice to move the case to Florida, though it has become a topic of discussion in the fights with the defense teams over secrecy, especially at a recent hearing before Cannon. “I can say that the investigation that was ongoing before the DC grand jury had – had adequate nexus to continue in Washington. I’m not prepared to comment on the date on which a decision to charge in Florida was made or what the internal deliberations were on that subject,” special counsel’s office prosecutor David Harbach told Cannon at a hearing last week.
It was always a messy situation. Factors I'm sure Smith's team considered in charging in FL:
- They needed (under existing law) to charge Trump at the location that there was a nexus to the crime, but also needed personal jurisdiction or to extradite him for purposes of trial back to DC, which maybe they didn't feel they could defend.
- If Trump was charged in DC and Trump's lawyers wanted to delay, initial motions to move the proceeding to Florida would have already caused delays.
- Finally, because Smith certainly predicted Trump would claim the documents were declassified as part of official conduct, charging in the place where he lives now as a simple citizen (Florida) prevents Trump from exploiting the case location (DC) as evidence they are prosecuting conduct related to his presidency.
They probably also thought the case was cut-and-dry enough that the location truly wouldn't matter. But even so, they were not nearly cynical enough about Aileen Cannon and how badly it could go when she's basically Trump's pro bono counsel. Everyone who had seen Cannon's earlier rulings and confirmation proceedings knew she has zero integrity and was going to throw the case for Trump.
Like usual, it seems like nobody in official positions planned properly for what happens with an actual bad-faith actor in control.