US Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Friday, November 18 the appointment of an independent prosecutor, Jack Smith, to oversee investigations into former President Donald Trump. The billionaire, who has just declared himself a candidate for the presidential election of 2024, is currently the subject of two separate investigations by federal justice.
“Given the recent developments, in particular the announcement of the candidacy for the next presidential election of the former president and the intention of candidacy of the current president, I have decided that it is in the interest of the public to appoint a special prosecutor”, said Merrick Garland during a press conference. Jack Smith, for his part, promised, in a press release, to act ” quick “ and “in complete independence”.
The first investigation relates to the assault carried out by supporters of Donald Trump against the Capitol on January 6, 2021, at the time of the certification of the victory of his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, in the presidential election of 2020. This sprawling investigation led to the indictment of nearly 900 people who directly participated in the violence. But prosecutors have never ruled out looking at other actors. “Everyone who is criminally responsible for efforts to annul the election will be held accountable for their actions”said Merrick Garland several times.
Fifteen boxes
The second investigation relates to the archives of the White House. Leaving the presidency, Donald Trump took entire boxes of documents. However, a law of 1978 obliges any American president to transmit all of his emails, letters and other working documents to the national archives. In January, he returned fifteen cartons.
After examination, the federal police estimated that he probably kept others in his luxurious Mar-a-Lago, Florida residence. FBI agents carried out a spectacular search there on August 8, relying on a warrant for “retention of classified documents” and “obstructing a federal investigation”, and seized about thirty other boxes. An intense legal battle then opened to determine the nature of the documents seized – classified, personal, declassified? -, which slowed down the procedure, but, again, a federal indictment remains possible.
After gathering all the elements, the special prosecutor ‘will exercise professional judgment independently in deciding whether there should be a charge’, in one or the other of these files, specified Mr. Garland. However, Mr. Smith will only be responsible for issuing a recommendation and it will be up to the Minister to decide. If he were to ultimately indict Donald Trump on this basis, his decision will be harder to attack. The initiation of legal proceedings would not prevent the real estate mogul from competing, but would cast a shadow over his candidacy.
veteran prosecutor
Donald Trump said in an interview with Fox that the appointment of an independent prosecutor to oversee the investigations against him was “unfair” and ” Politics “. denouncing “the worst politicization of justice” in American history, the Republican added that he would not participate in the investigations. “It’s shameful, they’re doing this just because I’m leading the polls”, continued the former president. White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre says Joe Biden was not warned ” in advance “ of the appointment of an independent prosecutor, and had not been ” involved “ in the decision.
Jack Smith is a veteran prosecutor. He served in the ministry as head of the public integrity section, leading around 30 people in corruption and election prosecutions, as well as at the International Criminal Court. Since 2018, he has been the lead prosecutor of the Special Court for Kosovo.
In the past, Donald Trump has already been the subject of an investigation supervised by a special prosecutor: Robert Mueller was charged in 2017 with establishing whether there had been collusion between his campaign team and Russia. After two years of investigation, he had judged not to have enough evidence attesting to a plot between Moscow and the team of Donald Trump, but had noted a series of disturbing pressures exerted by the tenant of the White House on his investigation. He said he was unable to clear him of the suspicions of obstruction of justice.