Special counsel Jack Smith has indicted former President Donald Trump in the Southern District of Florida to avoid the appearance of bias and “forum shopping,” a longtime Miami defense attorney told The Daily Wire.

Gustavo Lage, a law partner at the Florida firm of SMG&Q, is a former prosecutor with decades of experience in arguing criminal law cases in Florida. Lage says that Department of Justice prosecutors have indicted Trump in a federal court in Florida, despite having the option of potentially trying the case in Washington, D.C., to avoid not looking impartial.

Smith indicted Trump in the Souther District of Florida on 37 charges related to boxes of allegedly classified documents confiscated from Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida resort and residence. Trump is the first former president to face a federal indictment after leaving the White House.

Trump’s case is politically charged, and his indictment has drawn strong reactions. Republicans have come out in droves attacking the unprecedented indictment as political targeting. To blunt that criticism, Smith is moving to have Trump tried in what many perceive as friendlier territory for the president, Lage told The Daily Wire.

“I believe they chose the Southern District of Florida in an effort to seem less biased and to avoid criticism for forum shopping,” Lage said. “Clearly, Washington would be more beneficial to them in their prosecution than the southern district of Florida.”

The Southern District of Florida gives Trump “the advantage of there being a contingent of Hispanic voters who are considered fairly conservative and allies of the MAGA movement,” he continued, noting that “you may not as easily find in Washington, D.C.”

Trump may have gotten another break in the case as well. Judge Aileen Cannon, who Trump appointed to bench in the Southern District in 2020, has reportedly been assigned the case. She earlier handled motions from Trump’s legal team during the investigation into allegedly classified documents stored at Mar-a-Lago and made several key rulings favorable to the former president. For example, she appointed a special master to oversee the FBI investigation into those documents at Trump’s request.

“She has a very good pedigree, but seeing as she is so recently appointed, it’s hard to gage what input or what influence her being the judge on the case is going to take,” Lage said. “If we are to look at what happened with the search warrant issue, we could reasonably believe she’s more pro-Trump than anti-Trump; although, I wouldn’t necessarily say that she is not going to be fair, or not going to call balls and strikes just because she is a Trump appointee.”

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On Friday, two of Trump’s top attorneys, Jim Trusty and John Rowley, resigned from the former president’s legal defense in a legal team shakeup. Trump has tapped Todd Blanche, a former federal prosecutor in New York before moving to white-collar criminal defense, to lead his defense against Smith in the documents case.

Lage said Blanche is “imminently qualified” to lead Trump’s defense, and the shakeup is likely part of a plan to reorient Trump’s legal team in light of the indictment.

Former British prime minister Boris Johnson abruptly resigned from Parliament on Friday after receiving the results of an investigation he claimed was meant to “drive me out.”

Johnson is under investigation by a committee of the House of Commons, which is looking into whether Johnson lied to Parliament about parties in Downing Street that flouted COVID lockdowns, known as “Partygate.”

The former prime minister said he was “bewildered and appalled” to receive a letter from the investigating committee, which he said made “it clear, much to my amazement, that they are determined to use the proceedings against me to drive me out of Parliament.”

Johnson said the investigation’s “Partygate” report “is riddled with inaccuracies and reeks of prejudice but under their absurd and unjust process I have no formal ability to challenge anything they say.”

The “Partygate” report has not been released publicly yet, but Johnson received a confidential copy.

“I have today written to my association in Uxbridge and South Ruislip to say that I am stepping down forthwith and triggering an immediate by-election,” Johnson said.

He hinted, however, that his political career may not be completely over.

“It is very sad to be leaving Parliament — at least for now,” he said.

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His resignation allows him to avoid being disciplined or ousted from his Commons seat, and it will also keep him able to run again for Parliament in the future if he decides to do so.

Last year, Johnson became the first sitting prime minister to be found guilty of breaking the law when the Metropolitan Police issued him a fine for attending a gathering in Downing Street during the COVID lockdown.

The police ended up issuing 126 fines over the late-night parties, which featured alcohol.

In March, Johnson told the committee he did mislead Parliament about gatherings during lockdown, but only accidentally.

Johnson told the committee that he “honestly believed” the five events he attended were “lawful work gatherings” that would boost morale among staffers who were overworked during the pandemic. One event was a send-off for a staffer, and one was Johnson’s own surprise birthday party.

“They have still not produced a shred of evidence that I knowingly or recklessly misled the Commons,” Johnson said Friday.

He slammed the investigation as “a witch hunt” and simply revenge “for Brexit and ultimately to reverse the 2016 referendum result.”

“Their purpose from the beginning has been to find me guilty, regardless of the facts,” Johnson said.

Johnson, 58, was prime minister and leader of the Conservative Party from July 2019 to September 2022. Previously, he was mayor of London from 2008 to 2016.

The flamboyant Conservative leader became known as a populist leader with broad appeal, although he faced harsh political critics, who accused him of bending rules to suit his style, and racism.

As prime minister, Johnson fought to “get Brexit done,” even if it meant moving forward with a “no-deal” Brexit, meaning the United Kingdom would withdraw from the European Union without a withdrawal agreement.

Johnson’s resignation will trigger a special election to replace him as representative from west London in the House of Commons.