From The Hague To Obama’s IRS Scandal: Meet Jack Smith, The New Special Counsel To Investigate Trump

Jack Smith, appointed special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday, spent years as a prosecutor for the Department of Justice under former President Barack Obama and in the International Criminal Court at The Hague.

Garland named Smith special counsel to take over two DOJ investigations into former President Donald Trump, including parts of the investigation into the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, as well as the investigation into documents seized from Trump’s residence in Mar-a-Lago. The move by Garland comes days after Trump announced his 2024 bid for U.S. president.

“Throughout his career, Jack Smith has built a reputation as an impartial and determined prosecutor who leads teams with energy and focus to follow the facts wherever they lead,” Garland said at a Friday press briefing. “As special counsel, he will exercise independent prosecutorial judgment to decide whether charges should be brought.”

Smith did not attend the briefing in Washington, D.C., that announced his appointment. The DOJ said he will return to the U.S. from the Netherlands after he recovers from a recent bicycle accident, according to The New York Times (NYT). Smith has already resigned from his role as chief prosecutor at The Hague, where he has worked since 2018 investigating war crimes.

Smith accepted the appointment in a statement: “I intend to conduct the assigned investigations, and any prosecutions that may result from them, independently and in the best traditions of the Department of Justice. The pace of the investigations will not pause or flag under my watch. I will exercise independent judgement and will move the investigations forward expeditiously and thoroughly to whatever outcome the facts and the law dictate.”

Smith began work as a prosecutor in 1994 for the New York County District Attorney’s office investigating and prosecuting sex crimes and domestic violence offenses, according to the New York Post. He later moved to the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York and served in a number of supervisory roles, at one point overseeing the work of about 100 prosecutors.

In 2008, Smith left Brooklyn for the Netherlands to take on the role of investigation coordinator in the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, NYT reported. He spent the next two years overseeing war crimes investigations into foreign governments and high-profile militia groups.

Smith returned to the United States in 2010 to take up a post at the Justice Department under former President Barack Obama. For the next five years, he led the DOJ Public Integrity Section and oversaw numerous corruption cases brought against politicians and others, including the high-profile cases of former Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell and former Arizona Rep. Rick Renzi, both Republicans.

Smith took over the Public Integrity Section at a period of turmoil for the division after a high-profile case against Republican then-Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska broke down, according to NYT. After Smith took charge, the division dropped a number of cases against other lawmakers, raising questions that the division may shy away from pursuing cases against lawmakers.

“I understand why the question is asked,” Smith told The New York Times at the time. “But if I were the sort of person who could be cowed — ‘I know we should bring this case, I know the person did it, but we could lose, and that will look bad’ — I would find another line of work. I can’t imagine how someone who does what I do or has worked with me could think that.”

In the case against McDonnell, Smith’s team won initially — a jury convicted McDonnell on 11 corruption-related felony charges. The Supreme Court later overturned the conviction in a ruling rebuking the prosecution for its “boundless” interpretation of the law.

“There is no doubt that this case is distasteful; it may be worse than that. But our concern is not with tawdry tales of Ferraris, Rolexes, and ball gowns. It is instead with the broader legal implications of the Government’s boundless interpretation of the federal bribery statute,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in a 2016 opinion. “A more limited interpretation of the term ‘official act’ leaves ample room for prosecuting corruption, while comporting with the text of the statute and the precedent of this Court.”

In contrast to McDonnell, Smith’s prosecution of Renzi stuck. The former congressman was sentenced to three years in prison in October of 2013. Renzi later received a pardon from Trump in 2021 as he was preparing to vacate the White House for incoming President Joe Biden.

During his stint at the DOJ, Smith was linked to one of the most infamous scandals of the Obama administration: the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups. In the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United, the IRS unfairly scrutinized and delayed hundreds of conservative organizations’ applications for tax-exempt status from 2010-2012, according

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases