The US Justice Department appoints a neutral prosecutor to oversee the Trump investigations.
Three days after the former president declared his intention to run again for president in 2024, the US Justice Department on Friday named a veteran war crimes investigator as special counsel to handle criminal investigations into Donald Trump.
The dramatic action was denounced by Trump, who claims to be the victim of a “witch hunt,” as “unfair” and “the worst politicisation of justice in our society.”
The unprecedented special counsel probe of a former president—aand current presidential candidate—ssets the foundation for a protracted legal struggle, despite the White House’s vehement denials of any political influence.
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the selection of Jack Smith to lead the two current federal investigations into Trump at a news conference. Smith was most recently the main prosecutor in The Hague charged with looking into Kosovo war crimes.
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One is about how the former president tried to get the results of the 2020 election overturned and how his followers attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The other is an inquiry into a collection of secret government records that were seized by the FBI during a raid on Trump’s Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, in August.
Because both Republican Donald Trump and his Democratic successor Joe Biden have indicated their plans to run in 2024, although only Trump has done so formally as of yet, Garland claimed that appointing a special counsel was in the public interest.
It is appropriate to appoint a special counsel at this time, according to Garland. “It is necessary given the unique circumstances here.”
The White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said that Biden didn’t know Garland was going to name a special counsel ahead of time.
Trump alleged in a Fox News Digital interview that the Biden administration was out to stop him from retaking the office, calling it “very unjust.”
The only reason this is occurring, he claimed, is that I am ahead in every poll for both parties. “It is inadmissible.” It’s really unjust. “It’s quite political.”
Later, at his Mar-a-Lago residence, Trump warned visitors, “This will not be a fair investigation.”
He stated, to cheers, “The horrible abuse of power is the latest in a long line of witch hunts.”
Smith, who used to be in charge of the Justice Department’s Public Integrity unit, said, “The speed of the investigations will not stop or slow down while I’m in charge.”
He declared, “I will use independent judgement and will promptly and thoroughly forward the investigations to whatever conclusion the facts and the law demand.”
Indicting Trump has become much more difficult as a result of his participation in the contest for president on Tuesday.
Garland, who was picked by Biden, might not be able to say that the two investigations are being done for political reasons if an impartial prosecutor is in charge of them.
The attorney general will have the last say on whether charges should be filed, but the special counsel will decide whether the former president should be charged at all.
The 76-year-old Trump can still run for president even if he is charged with a felony, since US law does not prohibit someone who has been charged with or convicted of a crime from doing so.
While Special Counsel Robert Mueller looked into suspected Russian election interference and obstruction of justice while Trump was still in office, no charges were filed against him.
New legal issues
Trump is dealing with additional legal issues in addition to the federal probes.
Letitia James, the attorney general for the state of New York, has brought a civil lawsuit against Donald Trump and three of his children, charging them with corporate fraud.
Additionally, Trump is under investigation for allegedly forcing Georgian officials to void Biden’s victory in the 2020 election. This includes a now-famous phone call during which he requested the secretary of state “find” enough votes to change the outcome.
Related: A US court rejects Trump’s challenge to his Twitter ban.
Some people in Washington thought that Trump’s unusually early announcement that he would run for president in 2024 was an attempt to stay out of trouble with the law.
Trump was twice impeached by the Democratic-majority House of Representatives in 2019—once for trying to obtain political information on Biden from Ukraine and again after the attack on the Capitol on January 6—but both times he was found not guilty by the Senate.
