Veteran prosecutor Jack Smith tapped to oversee feds’ Trump investigations
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to oversee two ongoing criminal probes into Donald Trump after the former president announced a third run for the White House earlier this week.
The Justice Department is currently investigating whether Trump interfered in the transfer of power after losing the 2020 presidential election and, in a separate case, his handling of highly classified information at his Florida estate.
Garland chose Jack Smith, a veteran prosecutor with experience prosecuting mobsters in New York and war criminals abroad, to take over the cases, citing his career-long commitment to impartiality.
“I will ensure that the special counsel receives the resources to conduct this work quickly,” Garland said in a statement announcing the decision.
Special counsels operate with greater autonomy from the Justice Department than other U.S. attorneys. Garland had been considering the appointment of a special counsel ahead of Trump’s announcement as a way of protecting the integrity of the probes against accusations that the Biden administration is investigating a political rival.
Garland also said that Biden’s stated intention to run for a second term factored into his decision.
“I have concluded that it is in the public interest to appoint a special counsel,” Garland said. “The extraordinary circumstances presented here demand it.”
This story was originally published November 18, 2022 at 1:38 PM with the headline "Veteran prosecutor Jack Smith tapped to oversee feds’ Trump investigations."
