Justice Department names special counsel to oversee Trump criminal investigations

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Justice Department has appointed an independent special counsel to oversee criminal investigations related to former President Donald Trump and decide whether to bring any charges now that he’s making a third run for the White House in 2024.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said Friday he determined it was in the public interest to appoint a special counsel given “recent developments,” including Trump’s announcement that he planned to run for president again and President Joe Biden’s stated intention to run for re-election.

“The Department of Justice has long recognized that in certain extraordinary cases it is in the public interest to appoint a special prosecutor to independently manage an investigation and prosecution,” Garland told reporters in Washington.

Allowing a special counsel to handle the probes may protect the government from potential conflicts of interest and avoid allegations of bias, because the investigator would operate largely independently from Justice Department leadership.

Garland named John L. “Jack” Smith as the special counsel under an order signed Friday. Since 2018, Smith has served as the chief prosecutor for the special court in The Hague charged with investigating and adjudicating war crimes in Kosovo. He is a former acting U.S. attorney.

Smith will take on oversight of the investigations into the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol — including any role that Trump may have played — as well as the former president’s handling of classified White House records after he left office, according to Garland’s order.

Garland said a special counsel will allow prosecutors and FBI agents to continue their work “expeditiously.” But he said that Smith’s authority would not include the hundreds of prosecutions against people charged with participating in the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Smith has “built a reputation as a determined and impartial prosecutor” who can “follow the facts wherever they lead,” Garland said. “Mr. Smith is the right choice to complete these matters in an evenhanded and urgent manner.”