Special counsel to lead Trump probe named
WASHINGTON, D.C.: United States Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday (Saturday in Manila) named a special counsel to oversee the Justice Department’s investigation into the presence of classified documents at former president Donald Trump’s Florida estate, as well as key aspects of a separate probe involving the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection and efforts to undo the November 2020 election.
The appointment of veteran prosecutor Jack Smith, announced just three days after Trump formally launched his 2024 candidacy, is a recognition of the unmistakable political implications of two investigations that involve not only a former president but also a current White House hopeful.
It also installs a new chain of command over sensitive probes seen as likely to accelerate now that the midterm elections have concluded, with Garland citing Trump’s entry into the race and President Joe Biden’s stated intention to run again as reasons for Smith’s sudden appointment.
“The Department of Justice has long recognized that in certain extraordinary cases, it is in the public’s interest to appoint a special prosecutor to independently manage an investigation and prosecution,” Garland said from the Justice Department’s podium.
Trump addressed the news on Friday night at an America First Policy Institute gala at his Mar-a-Lago, slamming what he described as the “appalling announcement today by the egregiously corrupt Biden administration and their weaponized Department of Justice.”
He called it a “horrendous abuse of power” and “the latest in a long series of witch hunts,” and insisted he’d “done nothing wrong,”
Smith, who led the department’s public integrity section in Washington and later served as the acting chief federal prosecutor in Nashville, Tennessee, during the administration of former president Barack Obama, is set to begin his work immediately, Garland said.
He has been serving since 2018 as chief prosecutor for the special court in The Hague, Netherlands that is tasked with investigating international war crimes.
The department described Smith as a registered independent, an effort to blunt any attack of perceived political bias. Trump is a Republican, and Biden is a Democrat.
“Throughout his career, Jack Smith has built a reputation as an impartial and determined prosecutor who leads teams with energy and focus to follow the facts wherever they lead,” Garland said. “As special counsel, he will exercise independent prosecutorial judgment to decide whether charges should be brought.”
“The extraordinary circumstances here demand it,” Garland said of the appointment.
In a statement released by the department, Smith said he intended to do his work independently and “in the best traditions of the Department of Justice.”
“The pace of the investigations will not pause or flag under my watch,” he vowed.
As special counsel, Smith will inherit two ongoing probes that both touch Trump. One concerns potential interference in the transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election, when Trump allies scrambled for ways to overturn the results of the contest won by Biden. The other involves the retention of classified documents at Trump’s Mara-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
The Mar-a-Lago probe has escalated especially quickly, with prosecutors this month granting immunity to a close Trump ally to secure his testimony before a federal grand jury. Investigators, in that case, have interviewed a broad range of witnesses and, in court filings, have cited legal concerns over the presence of top-secret materials in Mar-a-Lago despite strict procedures that govern the handling of classified information. They’ve also alleged efforts to obstruct that probe.
In his role as special counsel, Smith will be empowered to decide whether charges should be brought as part of his investigations and to prosecute any crimes he uncovers. Though Garland as attorney general would retain ultimate oversight of his work, he stressed the independent decision-making that Smith will bring to bear on the job.