Special Counsel Jack Smith Trump Prosecutor

ack Smith, a veteran federal prosecutor, has been appointed as special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland to oversee the Department of Justice’s investigation into former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified materials after leaving office. As special counsel, Smith will exercise independent prosecutorial judgment to determine whether charges should be brought against Trump. Smith, who is currently recovering from a bike accident, has been described by former colleagues as an aggressive prosecutor who possesses the background and temperament necessary for this high-profile role.

Who Is Jack Smith Special Counsel

Smith has previously served as chief prosecutor in the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, where he investigated and adjudicated war crimes in Kosovo. He has also served in various roles with the Justice Department, including as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of New York and as first assistant U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee. Smith has overseen high-profile cases that often targeted elected officials, including former Senator John Edwards, a Democratic presidential candidate, and former Rep. Tom Delay, a Republican from Texas. Smith is the second special counsel to investigate Trump, after former FBI Director Robert Mueller probed the Trump campaign’s ties to the Russian government during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Jack Smith Trump

According to the Washington Post’s sources, the FBI and U.S. Justice Department have uncovered fresh evidence that suggests former President Donald Trump may have obstructed the probe into classified documents discovered at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. FBI agents had seized thousands of government records from the estate, some of which were marked as highly classified. The investigation is one of two criminal inquiries led by Special Counsel Jack Smith into the former president, who was recently indicted on a separate inquiry in New York. Trump has denied any wrongdoing and dismissed the cases as politically motivated.

The Washington Post’s report further claimed that in May 2022, after his advisors received a subpoena to return the classified records, Trump reportedly went through some of the boxes of government documents at his home, seemingly with the intent of keeping certain items. The investigators have also found evidence that suggests Trump asked others to mislead government officials in early 2022, before the subpoena was issued, when the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration was working to recover documents from Trump’s time in office.

When questioned, the FBI referred to the Justice Department, which has not commented on the matter. In response to the report, Trump’s spokesman Steven Cheung said that the allegations against the former president are baseless and part of a broader witch-hunt campaign. Special Counsel Smith’s investigations are among Trump’s many legal worries, as the former president recently launched a campaign seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Published by HOLR Magazine.

Feature Image Credit: Creator: POOL | Credit: REUTERS