Today, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed John “Jack” Smith, Trump’s 2nd special counsel. Smith, an American attorney was a former Department of Justice assistant United States Attorney. He was in charge of the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section. He was also chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court regarding war crimes in the Kosovo War.

Garland has indicated that Smith will assume two existing DOJ investigations into the former president. Smith will investigate the January 6 U.S. Capitol attack and Trump’s taking of classified documents to Mar-a-Lago.

If you combine this decision to appoint a special counsel by the DOJ with the Fulton County, Georgia’s district attorney’s investigation of the former president’s interference in the 2020 election, we have a super Trump storm.

Merrick Garland’s Remarks on the Appointment of a Special Counsel

In Washington, the Attorney General of the United States made a momentous announcement today. Here’s what he had to say.

I am here today to announce the appointment of a Special Counsel in connection with two ongoing criminal investigations that have received significant public attention. 

The first, as described in court filings in the District of Columbia, is the investigation into 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 matter in the Southern District of Florida.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/attorney-general-merrick-b-garland-delivers-remarks-appointment-special-counsel

Trump is in serious trouble. Since January 6, 2021, Trump has been on the run from justice soon after the attack on the capitol. The United states House of Representatives impeached this president for the 2nd time. The Senate held a trial in February. Seven Republicans joined with 50 Democrats to find Trump guilty of causing an insurrection. However because the Senate requires two-thirds of the senators to determine guilt, Trump walked free. He was out of office at the time. Some Republicans used that as an excuse claiming a former president (or any executive) cannot be tried for impeachment while out-of-office.

Two years later, Trump announced that he was running for president, for the third time.

Smith was appointed special counsel.

Trump needs to take this seriously. He ought to look up John Jack Smith (this link will take him to a good bio of JJS).

Focus of the Special Counsel Investigation

Smith said this about his appointment as special counsel to investigate Donald Trump:

“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,” he promised. “I will exercise independent judgement and will move the investigations forward expeditiously and thoroughly to whatever outcome the facts and the law dictate.”

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/special-counsel-trump-investigations-merrick-garland/

Keep in mind that Smith is the second special counsel appointed by the Justice Department to investigate the actions of Donald Trump and his allies The first special counsel was appointed by Rob Rosenstein in 2017. He oversaw the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Jeff Sessions (Attorney General at the time) recused himself from any Russian investigation because he had lied about his involvement with Russians during the campaign. Trump fired James Comey, Director of the FBI thinking the Russia investigation would go away. It didn’t happen.  Rosenstein realized that if he didn’t appoint a special counsel, Trump might get away with not being investigated to find out if there was a conspiracy amongst his allies to seek assistance from Russia in his campaign against Hillary Clinton.

For two years Mueller’s investigation consumed the attention of the country. Let’s hope that the new investigation led by Smith will not take as long is the Mueller investigation. Very soon Smith will appoint attorneys and researchers that he needs to carry out his task.  There is no doubt in my mind that the actions of Merrick Garland were prompted by Donald Trump’s announcement that he’s seeking the presidency in 2024. Many people have written that Trump thinks that if he’s running for president, he’ll be immune from any kind of prosecution.  

I think the actions by the United States Attorney general have made it clear that Trump is in hot water.