Former President Donald Trump has been indicted in Florida for obstruction of justice, false statements, violations of national security laws, and other crimes. The place he is being prosecuted in is very telling, and a sign that prosecutors view the case as a slam dunk and that Trump actually committed the crimes he has been charged with.

Under federal venue rules, Trump could probably have been indicted in Washington, DC, instead. That’s where federal prosecutors bring weak cases against Republicans, because juries in Washington DC contain typically contain 11 Democrats and 0 or 1 Republican. Judges in Washington, DC are overwhelmingly Democratic appointees, and some of them are radicals. DC juries have convicted even innocent Bush administration officials of crimes, while letting even guilty Democratic lobbyists off the hook.

By contrast, a jury in Florida will include Republicans, so it won’t railroad Trump.

[It’s a good point. It makes more sense to charge Trump in Florida’s Southern District, which is where the crimes took place, and Smith probably also calculated (as Andrew McCarthy wrote last night) that Trump had a good shot at forcing a change of venue anyway. But Smith may well figure that this case is so strong that it doesn’t matter anyway. — Ed]