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Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Friday that Jack Smith will serve as special counsel to oversee investigations into potential criminal wrongdoing by former President Donald Trump.
Garland said that Smith will look into whether there was unlawful interference in the transfer of power following the 2020 election and certification of the Electoral College votes on January 6. He will also determine whether there was potential obstruction of justice in relation to the classified documents discovered at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.
The decision was made due to what Garland cited as "extraordinary circumstances" in relation to the presidential ambitions of Trump, who declared his 2024 candidacy on Tuesday.
"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 at a press conference.
"Such an appointment underscores the department's commitment to both independence and accountability in particularly sensitive matters," the attorney general added.
Smith has worked as a U.S. attorney in the Middle District of Tennessee and as chief of the Public Integrity Section of the DOJ, supervising the litigation of national public corruption cases.
Smith has also prosecuted war crimes as investigation coordinator in the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague, Netherlands.
Garland's announcement was not met with widespread agreement or enthusiasm.
"I think it's a waste of time and money, insults the prosecutors at DOJ and gains nothing," tweeted Jill Wine-Banks, a former Watergate and federal prosecutor. "No Trump supporter will see anyone as independent or fair to Trump."
Filmmaker Rob Reiner said the American people don't need a special counsel "to determine that Donald Trump has committed a mountain of federal crimes."
"Merrick Garland: Stop trying to avoid looking political and INDICT!" Reiner tweeted.
Former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance tweeted that Smith needs to "be able to hit the ground running and move the investigation forward without delay."
Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti doesn't believe the special counsel will delay the investigation of Trump, predicting it will just "slow things down by weeks, not months, if at all."
"The investigation is far along, and the same FBI agents can work for the special counsel," he tweeted. "Some of the prosecutors working the case can also work for the special counsel."
About the writer
Nick Mordowanec is a Newsweek investigative reporter based in Michigan. His focus includes U.S. and international politics and policies, immigration, ... Read more