• An independent lawyer has been appointed to oversee the US justice department’s criminal investigations into former President Donald Trump.
• Jack Smith, a former war crimes prosecutor, was named special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland in a news conference.
• The committee has hinted at the possibility that it will recommend to the justice department that Mr Trump face criminal changes for his alleged role in the riot.

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the appointment of Jack Smith, a former war crimes prosecutor, at a press conference.

He will oversee the investigations into Mr. Trump’s handling of secret materials and his alleged involvement in the violence at the Capitol.

The focus of numerous other investigations, Mr. Trump, denies any misconduct.

Mr. Smith will finally determine whether to file criminal charges against the former Republican president, who just three days ago declared his campaign for president in 2024.

According to Mr. Garland on Friday, “in the some extraordinary cases it is in the public interest to appoint a special prosecutor to independently manage an investigation and prosecution.”

“Given recent events, including the former president’s declaration that he will run for office in the upcoming election and the current president’s desire to run as well, I have determined that it is in the public interest,” the president stated.

He claimed that the action would increase public trust in the probe.
Trump criticized the “horrendous misuse of power” by a “corrupt and extremely politicized” justice department in a statement released on Friday night from his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.

Former New York City public defender Mr. Smith most recently worked as chief prosecutor in The Hague, where he looked into war crimes in Kosovo.

According to Mr. Garland, he will be returning to the US to start working right now. The justice department stated that Mr. Smith was a registered political independent to allay accusations of partisan bias.
The appointment of a special counsel by Merrick Garland shows that this administration is keenly aware of the tremendous political costs involved in these cases.

Regardless of any guarantees of impartiality, a move by Joe Biden’s justice department to charge a guy who might compete with him in the 2024 presidential general election would be seen as suspicious by as much as half of the country.

The Biden administration is at least somewhat protected from such accusations by turning this over to a special counsel and granting that counsel the freedom to act as he sees fit.

Additionally, it implies that the justice department feels there is enough evidence to bring charges against Mr. Trump, since a case without substance could have been dropped with no further action.

Just days after he announced his third presidential campaign, Mr. Trump and his closest aides take all of this very seriously.

As with Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation and other special counsel inquiries throughout the George W. Bush and Bill Clinton presidencies, these investigations frequently take on life of their own and uncover new prosecutorial avenues to investigate.

Mr. Garland has unleashed a tornado whose final path will be unpredictable.
In a statement issued soon after being appointed, Mr. Smith stated, “I intend to undertake the assigned investigations, and any charges that may follow from them, independently and in the best traditions of the Department of Justice.”

Under my supervision, the probes’ speed “won’t pause or flag,” he stressed. “I will use my own discretion, carry out the investigations thoroughly, and reach whatever conclusion the evidence and the law need.”

The FBI searched Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago in August, the same month he announced his candidacy for president. They confiscated top-secret records, and now they’re looking into whether he might have breached the law by keeping them there after leaving the White House.

The justice department is also conducting a second criminal investigation into the Capitol riot of January 6, 2021, as well as broader attempts to rig the 2020 presidential election. However, this inquiry is mainly under wraps.

In the meantime, a congressional committee is investigating the incident in which supporters of Mr. Trump stormed the Capitol in Washington in an effort to halt the official declaration of President Joe Biden’s victory.

The committee has made hints that it would suggest to the justice department that Mr. Trump be prosecuted for his alleged involvement in the disturbance.

Also Read

Pakistan pushes for increase in non-permanent members to make UNSC more representative

UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has made a strong case against creating new permanent...