Donald Trump made headlines again this week with a rather early official announcement regarding his plans to run for reelection in 2024, and the political repercussions have already begun.
The decision to announce so early was a brilliant one for Trump, in that it makes it far more difficult for his opposition to launch attacks and investigations into him without being labeled as “political” in nature.
The Department of Justice, for instance, has now appointed a Special Counsel to oversee their probe of the former President, hoping to insulate the Biden administration from the overtly-political attack.
Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday named a special counsel to investigate the entirety of the criminal probe into the unlawful retention of national defense information at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, Fox News has learned.
Garland appointed former Justice Department official Jack Smith to the role. Smith, a former assistant U.S. attorney and chief to the DOJ’s public integrity section, will oversee the investigation into Trump’s retention of classified documents after leaving the White House and whether the former president obstructed the federal government’s investigation into the matter.
Smith is also tasked with overseeing the investigation into whether Trump or other officials and entities interfered with the peaceful transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election, including the certification of the Electoral College vote on Jan. 6, 2021.
Smith will be limited to only the Mar-a-Lago documents case.
Garland clarified that when it came to the investigation into Jan. 6, Smith would not be handling the investigation or prosecution of Trump supporters that breached the U.S. Capitol. Rather, Smith would focus on whether Trump or individuals and entities had tried to obstruct the peaceful transfer of power.
Trump has insisted that he’s done nothing wrong when it comes to the seized documents, and the lengthy investigation thus far has produced exactly zero charges against the former President.
