The move, announced just three days after Trump declared his 2024 candidacy, is a recognition of the undeniable political ramifications of two investigations involving not only a former president but also a current White House hopeful. Garland said Friday that Trump’s announcement of his presidential bid and President Joe Biden’s potential run in 2024 were factors in his decision to appoint a special counsel. Garland said the appointment will allow prosecutors to continue their work “unequivocally guided” only by the facts and the law. In a statement released by the Justice Department, Smith said the pace of investigations will not stop or flag under his watch. He also vows to exercise independent judgment. Although the appointment puts a new supervisor at the helm of the investigations — both of which are expected to accelerate now that the midterm elections are over — Smith will still report to Garland, who has the final say on whether charges will be filed. Smith is a veteran prosecutor who led the Justice Department’s public integrity division in Washington and who later served as acting federal attorney general in Nashville during the Obama administration. Most recently, he was the chief prosecutor of the special tribunal in The Hague charged with investigating international war crimes. The Justice Department described Smith as a registered independent, an effort to soften any onslaught of perceived political bias. “The extraordinary circumstances here call for it,” Garland said of the appointment. The special counsel’s investigation will combine the investigation into “whether any person or entity unlawfully interfered with the transition of power after the 2020 presidential election” and the investigation into classified documents at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, Florida, estate. Reps for Republican Trump did not immediately return messages seeking comment. Garland has repeatedly spoken of his particular focus on facts, evidence and the law in Justice Department decision-making and his determination to restore the agency’s political independence after the tumultuous years of the Trump administration. And there doesn’t appear to be an obvious conflict like the one that prompted the latest appointment of a special counsel to handle Trump-related investigations. Trump’s Justice Department has appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel to lead the investigation into possible coordination between Russia and the Trump 2016 presidential campaign.
