BREAKING: AG Merrick Garland Names Former Hague Prosecutor Jack Smith as Special Counsel to Investigate Trump for Jan 6. and Mar-a-Lago Documents

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the appointment of Jack Smith as Special Counsel to investigate former President Donald Trump regarding the efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and classified documents and other presidential records that were allegedly improperly taken by the former president.

News of the appointment of a special counsel broke earlier Friday, mere days after Trump announced he was running for re-election, and Garland confirmed the news in a press conference at the Department of Justice.

“I’m here today to announce the appointment of a special counsel in connection with two ongoing criminal investigations that have received significant public attention,” Garland began. “The first, as described in court filings in the District of Columbia, is the investigation to whether any person or entity unlawfully interfered with the transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election or the certification of the Electoral College vote held on or about January 6, 2021. The second is the ongoing investigation involving classified documents and other presidential records as well as the possible obstruction of that investigation, referenced and described in court filings in a pending manner in the Southern District of Florida.”

Garland thanked the prosecutors who had “taken on the monumental task of conducting over 900 prosecutions in defense of our democratic institutions,” saying they were “conducting their work in the best traditions of the Department of Justice,” as well as the FBI agents and other law enforcement officers who were ” working courageously and steadfastly and are serving our nation honorably.”

The DOJ “has long recognized that in certain extraordinary cases it is in the public interest appoint a special prosecutor to independently manage an investigation and prosecution,” Garland continued, and “recent developments,” including Trump’s recent announcement that he is running for president again in 2024, led him to conclude that it was appropriate to do so now.

“Such an appointment underscores the department’s commitment to both independence and accountability in particularly sensitive matters,” he added. “It also allows prosecutors and agents to continue their work expeditiously and to make decisions indisputably guided only by the facts and the law.”

Garland announced that he had signed the order appointing Jack Smith, authorizing him to “continue the ongoing investigation” into both the 2020 election matters and the Mar-a-Lago documents, “and to prosecute any federal crimes that may arise from those investigations.”

The attorney general then listed several items from Smith’s resume, starting his prosecutorial career in 1994 as an Assistant District Attorney with the New York County DA’s office. Smith became an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York in 1999, served with the International Criminal Court seated in The Hague, Netherlands from 2008 to 2010 supervising war crimes investigations, and returned to the DOJ in 2010 to serve as chief of the Public Integrity Section, “where he lead a team of more than 30 prosecutors who handled public corruption and election crimes cases across the United States.”

Smith also served as the First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee in 2015 before becoming the acting U.S. Attorney there, and returned to The Hague to serve as Specialist Prosecutor to lead the investigation into war crimes in Kosovo. He received his undergraduate degree at the State University of New York at Oneota and then received his juris doctor degree from Harvard Law School.

Photo of Jack Smith via Kosovo Specialist Prosecutor’s Office.

“Throughout his career, Jack Smith has built a reputation as an impartial and determined prosecutor, who leads teams with energy and focus to follow the facts wherever they lead,” Garland praised him, saying that Smith would be resigning from his position at The Hague and returning immediately to the U.S.

Garland concluded:

Given the work to date and Mr. Smith’s prosecutorial experience, I am confident that this appointment will not slow the completion of these investigations. Men and women who are pursuing these investigations are conducting themselves in accordance with the highest standards of professionalism. I could not be prouder of them. I strongly believe that the normal processes of this department can handle all investigations with integrity, and I also believe that appointing a special counsel at this time is the right thing to do. The extraordinary circumstances presented here demand it.

Mr. Smith is the right choice to complete these manners in an even handed and urgent manner. Thank you all.

Smith himself released a statement regarding his appointment, as reported by CNN’s Victor Blackwell:

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 or flag under my watch. I will exercise independent judgment and will move the investigations forward expeditiously and thoroughly to whatever outcome the facts and the law dictate.

Watch the video above, via CNN.

This post has been updated with additional information.

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