Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Friday afternoon that he is appointing veteran prosecutor Jack Smith as a special counsel to oversee the federal criminal investigations into former President Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents.
The appointment of a special counsel is intended to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest and comes three days after Trump launched his 2024 presidential campaign.
A spokesman for Trump called today’s announcement, “Little more than a political stunt.”
Jack Smith is described as a "highly regarded career prosecutor." He has been working as a War Crimes prosecutor for the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands. He’ll be coming back to the U.S. to oversee the ongoing ‘Trump-related’ investigations for the Justice Department.
Chronicle News/Washington Post graphic