Attorney General Merrick Garland To Appoint Jack Smith As Special Counsel To Handle Donald Trump Investigations

deadline.com:

UPDATE: Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Jack Smith as special counsel to oversee investigations into Donald Trump.

Citing Trump’s recently announced presidential bid and Joe Biden’s intention to run for reelection, Garland said, “I have concluded that it is in the public interest to appoint a special counsel.” “Such an appointment underscores the Department’s commitment to both independence and accountability in particularly sensitive matters,” Garland said. “It also allows prosecutors and agents to continue their work expeditiously, and to make decisions indisputably guided only by the facts and the law.” Smith has worked as a federal and state prosecutor and war crimes prosecutor.

He is currently specialist prosecutor in The Hague, The Netherlands, but has resigned that post. Garland said that Smith will have independent prosecutorial judgement to determine whether charges should be brought. “I am confident that this appointment will not slow the completion of these investigations,” he said.

Smith will oversee two investigations: Whether any person interfered with the transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election and the certification of the electoral vote on January 6.