Trump critics warns of 'nightmare scenario' for Special Counsel Jack Smith

Former President Donald Trump's lawyers are working overtime to protect their client from what the former president has long insisted is a coordinated political witch hunt, or "lawfare" against his campaign.

There was an interesting twist in his federal classified documents case that could quickly morph into a nightmare scenario for Special Counsel Jack Smith.

According to Newsweek, Judge Aileen Cannon -- a Trump-appointed judge -- dismissed Trump's request to have the case thrown out on "vagueness" grounds, but specified that she made the ruling "without prejudice," meaning that Trump's lawyers could appeal.

Newsweek noted:

She also noted that the vagueness dispute hinges on a disagreement about factual issues in the case—opening the door for Trump's lawyers to later show their version of the facts are correct.

Joyce Vance, a liberal Trump critic, recently raised alarms regarding the situation, noting that if the judge eventually finds that the charges against Trump are too vague, prosecutors would instantly lose their case against him.

She wrote in a recent publication of her legal blog Civil Discourse that Smith's "nightmare scenario" would be a result of the government not having the right to appeal "because a defendant cannot be retried after a jury has been sworn in."

"The judge dismissed the vagueness argument—but just for today," Vance wrote.

She added, "She did it 'without prejudice' which means that Trump's lawyers could raise the argument again later in the case. In fact, the judge seemed to do just that in her order, essentially inviting the defense to raise the argument again at trial."

Vance, clearly terrified of the possibility of the case falling apart, explained what happens when double jeopardy gets "attached" to a trial.

"That's because once a jury has been empaneled, double jeopardy 'attaches' and prevents the government from retrying the defendant on the same charges if he's acquitted, which is what would happen if the Judge granted a motion to dismiss at that point and before a jury rendered a guilty verdict. That's the nightmare scenario here,"

In a recent MSNBC interview, former FBI General Counsel Andrew Weissmann was especially scared for Smith's case falling apart.

"If the judge had simply said, 'I agree with Donald Trump, and I find that this is vague and I'm dismissing it,' the government could have appealed it to the Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, as they have done twice before and won twice before," Weissman explained.

He added, "But she also did not want to rule in favor of the government. So what she did is said 'why don't you bring this up later? I think there's some real issues here.'"

Only time will tell if Smith's "nightmare scenario" soon becomes reality.