Attorney General Merrick Garland tapped longtime federal prosecutor Jack Smith as special counsel to oversee a multi-pronged investigation into former President Donald Trump’s efforts to subvert the 2020 election and the unauthorized transfer of highly classified government documents to his Florida estate after exiting the White House.
A former top Justice Department official, Smith has served as chief of the department’s Public Integrity Section, and as investigations coordinator in the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague, Netherlands.
Garland’s appointment is an attempt to shield the Justice Department from conflicts of interest in an unprecedented criminal investigation after Trump recently announced a bid to retake the White House now occupied by Garland’s boss, President Joe Biden.
The attorney general cited Trump’s campaign announcement earlier this week and Biden’s stated intention to seek reelection in taking the extraordinary step.
Trump running for president again:Trump announces his 2024 presidential campaign as GOP debates future
“Based on recent developments, including the former President’s announcement that he is a candidate for President in the next election, and the sitting President’s stated intention to be a candidate as well, I have concluded that it is in the public interest to appoint a special counsel,” Garland said, adding that the appointment underscores a “commitment to both independence and accountability in particularly sensitive matters.
“The extraordinary circumstances presented here demand it,” Garland said during a brief announcement at the Justice Department. “Mr. Smith is the right choice to complete these matters in an even-handed and urgent manner.”
Jack Smith: Pace of Trump investigations ‘will not pause’
In a written statement, Smith pledged to proceed quickly and carefully.
“The pace of the investigations will not pause or flag under my watch,” Smith said. “I will exercise independent judgement and will move the investigations forward expeditiously and thoroughly to whatever outcome the facts and the law dictate.”
The action immediately recalled the Trump Justice Department’s decision more than three years ago to appoint former FBI Director Robert Mueller to lead an investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 vote to assist the Trump campaign.
That inquiry, which ran more than two years and resulted in the prosecution of several Trump aides, did not find evidence that the campaign conspired with Russia’s efforts to sway the election. And while Mueller did not reach a conclusion on whether Trump had obstructed the investigation, then-Attorney General William Barr concluded that the president’s conduct did not constitute a crime.
Special counsel law says Merrick Garland would keep some oversight
Under provisions of the special counsel statute, Garland – like Barr –would maintain some oversight authority in the investigation. But any decision to overrule the appointed counsel requires notification to the chairs of the House and Senate Judiciary committees.
The Justice Department has been pursuing multiple avenues of inquiry: from efforts to subvert the 2020 election and summoning the mob in the deadly assault on the U.S. Capitol last year to Trump’s handling of highly classified documents that prompted an unprecedented search of a former president property to recover a tranche of sensitive government records.
More:Trump served subpoena at Mar-a-Lago home 2 months before FBI search
Federal prosecutors have been most explicit about the possible criminal consequences in the documents’ investigation, indicating that authorities are weighing possible violations of the Espionage Act and obstruction of justice.
