President-elect Donald Trump is reportedly set to fire the entirety of special counsel Jack Smith’s team as well as use the Department of Justice to investigate the 2020 election.
Trump plans to eliminate the entirety of Smith’s team, including career attorneys typically protected from political retribution, according to a report from the Washington Post. Smith had previously said he will resign from the post and wind down his federal cases against Trump before he takes the oath of office in January.
In June 2023, Smith indicted Trump on charges that he unlawfully retained classified documents and obstructed the government’s efforts to retrieve them. In August 2023, Trump was indicted on four felony counts related to his efforts to overthrow the 2020 election and the subsequent deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Trump pleaded not guilty to both cases, and the classified documents case was later thrown out. Each case was riddled with delays as Trump’s legal team appealed various aspects of the prosecutions, including an immunity challenge brought by Trump in his federal election subversion case that made its way to the Supreme Court.
During his campaign, Trump ran on overhauling the Department of Justice, which he claims is weaponized against him. As he becomes president, Trump “wants to clean out ‘the bad guys, the people who went after me,’” someone familiar with his plans told the outlet.
“President Trump campaigned on firing rogue bureaucrats who have engaged in the illegal weaponization of our American justice system, and the American people can expect he will deliver on that promise,” Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement on the matter.
Tagged:
Donald Trump
