Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday appointed a special counsel to oversee criminal investigations into the retention of national defense information at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort and parts of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot.
Both investigations implicate the conduct of Trump, who on Tuesday declared his candidacy in the 2024 presidential race, making him a potential challenger to President Joe Biden.
“Based on recent developments, including the former President’s announcement that he is running for President in the next election, and the current President’s stated intention to run as well, I have concluded that it is in the public interest to appoint a special counsel,” Garland told the Justice Department on Friday.
Jack Smith, the former chief prosecutor of the special tribunal in The Hague, where he investigated war crimes in Kosovo, will oversee the investigations.
Smith “built a reputation as an impartial and determined prosecutor,” Garland told the Justice Department on Friday.
Trump has sought to characterize the investigations as politically motivated, including in his presidential announcement on Tuesday, where he said he was the victim of a “weaponization” of the justice system.
The Mar-a-Lago investigation burst into public view when the FBI executed a search warrant at Trump’s Florida resort in August. Trump went to court to secure an order requiring a third-party attorney to review the materials seized in the search. Documents marked classified were excluded from this review by an appellate court, allowing them to be used in the criminal investigation. Investigators have also brought witnesses before a federal grand jury that has joined D.C. in the probe.
The prosecutions of those who physically violated the Capitol were the most public aspect of the Justice Department’s January 6 investigation. But behind the scenes, prosecutors have subpoenaed many witnesses close to the former president for documents and testimony in the investigation.
Both the Mar-a-Lago investigation and the Jan. 6 probe into Trump aim to gather more information and bring witnesses to a federal grand jury in the coming weeks, according to multiple sources. Prosecutors have sent out several new subpoenas related to the two investigations in recent days, with return dates as early as next week.
Some of the witnesses being pursued in this round had not spoken to investigators in these cases before, according to some of the sources.
Trump’s team has been discussing in recent days the possibility of the Justice Department appointing a special counsel, multiple sources familiar with the talks told CNN.
Trump’s lawyers dreaded the prospect, worried it could delay the investigation they have fought in court. And Trump himself has complained about the issue, likening the prospect to former special counsel Robert Mueller, who oversaw the Russia probe.
Justice Department officials had been debating for weeks whether to appoint a special counsel, CNN previously reported.
This story has been updated with additional details.
