The Department of Justice notified the court of Jack Smith’s appointment as special counsel in two government investigations into former President Donald Trump.
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The notification was submitted on Monday by U.S. Attorney Juan Gonzalez. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the appointment last week.
“Special Counsel Smith has reviewed the filings in this litigation and approves all of the arguments that have been presented in the briefs and will be discussed at the oral argument in this case. Special Counsel Smith’s name will be affixed to future pleadings filed in all matters falling within his appointment,” the notice said.
WHO IS SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH, THE WAR CRIMES PROSECUTOR PICKED TO INVESTIGATE TRUMP?
Smith will oversee investigations regarding Trump’s conduct during the Jan. 6 riot and his handling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. Garland said that he was moved to take the action following Trump’s announcement of his 2024 presidential campaign.
Smith, a Harvard Law School graduate, previously worked as chief prosecutor for the special court in The Hague, where he tried people for war crimes related to the war in Kosovo in the late 1990s, as part of the breakup of Yugoslavia. He resigned from these proceedings to take up his current role as special counsel in the Trump case. He worked as a prosecutor under the Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations. He is reportedly registered as a political independent.
Smith described his new role in a statement released shortly after Garland’s announcement.
“I intend to conduct the assigned investigations, and any prosecutions that may result from them, independently and in the best traditions of the Department of Justice. The pace of the investigations will not pause of flag under my watch. I will exercise independent judgement and will move the investigations forward expeditiously and thoroughly to whatever outcome the facts and the law dictate,” he said.
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Trump has condemned the appointment, telling Fox News that it was “the worst politicization of justice in our country.”
