(AFP) – US officials have opened an investigation into Jack Smith, the former special counsel who led two federal criminal cases against President Donald Trump, US media reported Saturday. The Office of Special Counsel told The New York Times it was investigating Smith for potentially violating the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal workers from engaging in political activity while on the job. Republican Senator Tom Cotton had reportedly asked the agency to investigate whether Smith’s actions had been designed to influence the 2024 election. The agency, which monitors the conduct of federal employees, did not immediately respond to request for comment by AFP.
Smith was appointed special counsel in 2022 and charged Trump with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election and mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House. Trump denied both charges and sought to frame them as politically motivated, accusing the Justice Department of being weaponized against him. Neither case ever came to trial, and the special counsel — in line with a Justice Department policy of not prosecuting a sitting president — dropped them both after Trump won the November 2024 presidential election. Smith then resigned before Trump could fulfill his campaign pledge to fire him.
The Office of Special Counsel operates separately from special counsel offices at the Department of Justice, such as the one headed by Smith. The prosecutorial decisions made by Smith do not typically fall under its remit, according to the Times. It cannot lay criminal charges against Smith but could refer its findings to the Department of Justice, which does have that power. The most severe penalty under the Hatch Act is termination of employment, which would not apply to Smith as he has already resigned.
Since taking office in January, Trump has taken a number of punitive measures against his perceived enemies. He has stripped former officials of their security clearances and protective details, targeted law firms involved in past cases against him, and pulled federal funding from universities. Last month, the FBI opened criminal investigations into its former director James Comey and ex-CIA chief John Brennan, two prominent Trump critics. Days later, Comey’s daughter Maurene — a federal prosecutor who handled the case of notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who has been repeatedly linked to Trump — was abruptly fired.
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