Garland links special prosecutor appointment to Trump and Biden"s runs Merrick Garland said his appointment of a special prosecutor was necessary because of Donald Trump’s return to the campaign trail, as well as Joe Biden’s plans to seek a second term in the White House. “The department of justice has long recognized that in certain extraordinary cases, it is in the public interest to appoint a special prosecutor to independently manage an investigation and prosecution,” Garland said in the just-concluded press conference. “Based on recent developments, including the former president’s announcement that he is a candidate for president in the next election and the sitting president’s stated intention to be a candidate as well, I have concluded that it is in the public interest to appoint a special counsel.” Special counsel Jack Smith won’t be directly overseen by the DOJ and will be operating in a separate office, CNN reports. Charged with two investigations relating to the former president, Smith won’t likely be expected to provide regular updates to Attorney General Garland and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. From CNN: Joining him will be the prosecutor teams currently led by Jay Bratt, a senior prosecutor in the DOJ’s national security division; Tom Windom, a seasoned prosecutor who had been assigned to the US attorney’s office in Washington, DC; as well as the FBI agents already assigned to the investigations into the mishandling of government documents and 2020 election interference. They will directly report to Smith. A special counsel typically has a budget that isn’t easily limited and can decide how long to investigate.” Gabrielle Canon here, taking over from the west coast to bring you the latest this afternoon. Trump-supporting Republicans have been quick to criticize the newly announced special counsel, with figures like Ted Cruz and Marjorie Taylor Greene sounding off against the ongoing investigation in an attempt to paint the move as a politically motivated. “Joe Biden has completely weaponized the Department of Justice to attack his political opponents,” Cruz said on Twitter, trying to make a connection between the timing of Trump’s presidential campaign launch and Garland’s announcement. But Trump’s renewed attempt to regain the presidency could add complications to hold him to account. As Chris McGreal highlights: But then there is the politics of a prosecution against a presidential candidate who has already dismissed the investigations of his attempts to overturn the 2020 election, the hoarding of top secret documents, and allegedly fraudulent business practices, as “politically motivated” and a Democratic “witch-hunt”. Republican party chairwoman Ronna McDaniel has offered her thoughts on the appointment of Jack Smith as special counsel handling the investigations into Donald Trump: CBS News reports that the White House said it had no advance warning of attorney general Merrick Garland’s announcement today of Smith’s appointment. Joe Biden has previously said the justice department has not consulted with him during its investigation into government secrets found at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort: Trump says he "won’t partake in" special prosecutor"s investigation In an interview with Fox News, Donald Trump slammed the appointment of special prosecutor Jack Smith to weigh charging him over the government secrets found at Mar-a-Lago and the January 6 insurrection. “I have been going through this for six years - for six years I have been going through this, and I am not going to go through it anymore,” Trump told the network. “And I hope the Republicans have the courage to fight this.” “I have been proven innocent for six years on everything - from fake impeachments to Mueller who found no collusion, and now I have to do it more?” he continued, adding, “It is not acceptable. It is so unfair. It is so political.” The former president tied attorney general Merrick Garland’s appointment of a special prosecutor to his own announcement this week of another run for the White House. “I announce and then they appoint a special prosecutor,” Trump said. “They found nothing, and now they take some guy who hates Trump. This is a disgrace and only happening because I am leading in every poll in both parties … I am not going to partake in this.” Garland acknowledged that Trump’s run along with Joe Biden’s plans to seek a second term were both factors in his appointment of a special prosecutor, arguing it was the appropriate way to handle the question of whether to seek charges against the former leader after he returned to the campaign trail. “The department of justice has long recognized that in certain extraordinary cases, it is in the public interest to appoint a special prosecutor to independently manage an investigation and prosecution,” Garland said in his press conference earlier today. “Based on recent developments, including the former president’s announcement that he is a candidate for president in the next election and the sitting president’s stated intention to be a candidate as well, I have concluded that it is in the public interest to appoint a special counsel.” Texas’s Republican senator John Cornyn has reacted to the appointment of a special counsel to handle the Trump investigations by asking the justice department to do the same for Hunter Biden: The US attorney in Delaware is said to be weighing whether to bring federal charges against the president’s son, whose business dealings have been a target of scrutiny from GOP politicians and federal investigators for years. Andrew Weissmann was a seasoned justice department prosecutor whose last job was as a manager on special counsel Robert Mueller’s team investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Here’s what he had to say about Jack Smith: Special counsel Jack Smith has released a statement after being appointed to the role in which he will determine whether to charge Donald Trump and his allies over the January 6 insurrection and government secrets found at Mar-a-Lago. “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,” Smith wrote. “I will exercise independent judgment and will move the investigations forward expeditiously and thoroughly to whatever outcome the facts and the law dictate.” So who’s Jack Smith? As described by Merrick Garland, Smith is a veteran justice department prosecutor who from 2010 to 2015 was head of its public integrity section, responsible for handling corruption cases. He then served as a US attorney in Tennessee during the final years of Democrat Barack Obama’s administration. Lately, he’s been working in international law. He’s currently in The Hague as the specialist prosecutor at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office, which is handling trials of war crimes suspects from the eastern European country. He also worked as an investigator for the international criminal court from 2008 to 2010. “I strongly believe that the normal processes of this department can handle all investigations with integrity. And I also believe that appointing a special counsel at this time is the right thing to do,” Garland said. “The extraordinary circumstances presented here demand it. Mr. Smith is the right choice to complete these matters in an even handed and urgent manner.” Garland links special prosecutor appointment to Trump and Biden"s runs Merrick Garland said his appointment of a special prosecutor was necessary because of Donald Trump’s return to the campaign trail, as well as Joe Biden’s plans to seek a second term in the White House. “The department of justice has long recognized that in certain extraordinary cases, it is in the public interest to appoint a special prosecutor to independently manage an investigation and prosecution,” Garland said in the just-concluded press conference. “Based on recent developments, including the former president’s announcement that he is a candidate for president in the next election and the sitting president’s stated intention to be a candidate as well, I have concluded that it is in the public interest to appoint a special counsel.” Garland names Jack Smith as special counsel Attorney general Merrick Garland has named veteran prosector Jack Smith as the special counsel to decide whether to bring charges against Donald Trump.