Justice Minister Merrick Garland appoints former magistrate of the International Court of Justice of The Hague Jack Smith to lead the many judicial fronts that have cornered the former president
The United States Attorney General and Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on Friday that he will appoint Jack Smith as an independent prosecutor to conduct the various investigations opened against former president and presidential candidate Donald Trump. Smith is a prosecutor and has served as a judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, where he has investigated war crimes.
“I will exercise independent judgment and conduct investigations promptly and thoroughly until the outcome as dictated by the facts and the law,” Smith said in a statement from the ministry.
Special Counsel are semi-independent prosecutors who, under Justice Department rules, can be assigned to high-level investigations where there may be a conflict of interest, or the appearance of one. They exercise more autonomy on a daily basis than ordinary American lawyers, but are ultimately still under the control of the Attorney General.
As publicized by the US press, Trump’s announcement this week that he will run for a third presidential election in 2024 — if no other Republican candidates agree, in which case there would be primaries — has accelerated events. The fact that Biden, in turn, has indicated that he will most likely become president again has also had an impact.
Trump supporters have already accused the Justice Department under the Biden administration of investigating Trump for political reasons, and some Republicans have floated the idea of impeaching Garland if he presses charges against him.
The situation will not be new to Trump. While in the White House, he was already under investigation by special counsel. Former FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III discussed the nature of several connections between his 2016 campaign and Russia. The investigation was falsely closed after Mueller concluded that Trump was not conspiring with the Kremlin to get into the Oval Office.
The magnate faces several judicial fronts. The first investigation concerns Trump’s attempts to destroy the election results that gave Joe Biden the presidency of the country two years ago. The second is analyzing the management of confidential documents during his time in the White House and why he took dozens of reports deemed “top secret” to his Florida mansion after leaving office. Once the midterm elections are over, the investigators expect the number of subpoenas from Trump aides and former advisers to multiply and do not rule out indictments.
Source: La Verdad
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