Who is Jack Smith, the special counsel appointed to lead Trump investigations?

WASHINGTON – Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday named Jack Smith to oversee the politically fraught investigations into former President Donald Trump. Smith is a career prosecutor and Garland vowed that he would carry out the job of looking into Trump in an "evenhanded and urgent manner."

Smith, who according to the Department of Justice, began his prosecutorial career in 1994 as an assistant district attorney in New York, has served since 2018 as the chief prosecutor for a special court in The Hague charged with adjudicating war crimes in Kosovo. He has resigned from that position to take on the new role.

It will be no easy task: Trump's announcement this week that he will run for president in 2024 has raised questions about how prosecutors will handle a difficult investigation that Trump has already dismissed as politically motivated. Trump repeatedly sought to undermine Robert Mueller, the last special counsel who investigated him.

In a cable TV interview Friday, Trump called Smith's appointment as special counsel "so unfair" and "so political." Speaking in Florida later Friday, Trump said that he had "done nothing wrong."

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Here's what we know about special counsel Jack Smith.

Who is special counsel Jack Smith?

Smith has had a long career as a prosecutor.

In New York, Smith prosecuted matters ranging from gang murders of police officers to civil rights violations, according to the Department of Justice. From 2008 to 2010, he served with the International Criminal Court, where he supervised "sensitive investigations of foreign government officials and militia for war crimes," according to a Department of Justice biography.

In 2010, Smith returned to the Justice Department to serve as chief of the Public Integrity Section, where he led a team of more than 30 prosecutors who handled public corruption and election crimes cases across the United States, the Justice Department said. In 2015, he served as the First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, later becoming the Acting United States Attorney.

"As far as I'm concerned, he's the best person for the job," said David Schwendiman, who preceded Smith as a Kosovo war crimes prosecutor in the International Criminal Court. "He's brilliant. He's tough. He's independent. He's nonpartisan... Based on all I know about him, he's a man of integrity."

Schwendiman said Smith's international experience has also prepared him for what promises to be an intently politically-charged appointment.

"He took the position that I had, and three quarters of what you do as an executive prosecutor in the war crimes world, particularly when you're talking about something like Kosovo, is to clear the political air so that your people can do the job, provide a political umbrella and maintain independence and integrity," Schwendiman said.

What will special counsel Jack Smith investigate?

Smith will oversee a multi-pronged investigation into Trump's alleged efforts to subvert the 2020 election and the transfer of highly classified government documents to his Florida estate after exiting the White House.

Garland said Smith would oversee the investigation into whether "any person or entity" interfered with the transfer of power after the 2020 election. The department has been investigating alleged efforts to subvert the 2020 election and the summoning of the mob last year that led to the deadly Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol.

The second investigation involves the handling of classified documents and other records that were discovered during a search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in August.

"Jack Smith is the consummate professional and career DOJ prosecutor," tweeted Andrew Weissmann, a former federal prosecutor and a New York University law professor. "Not a political bone in his body. And a skilled and fast prosecutor who does not let the grass grow under his feet."

What is a special counsel?

Sometimes, in an effort to avoid the appearance of politics, the department will appoint a special counsel to oversee an investigation.

The Trump Justice Department, for instance, appointed Mueller, a former FBI director, in 2017 to lead an investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential race. Mueller's investigation found that Russia did interfere with the election but did not find evidence that Trump or members of his campaign conspired with Russia's efforts.

Under provisions of the special counsel statute, Garland would maintain some authority to oversee the investigation. But any decision to overrule the special counsel requires notification to the chairs of the House and Senate Judiciary committees.

What are they saying about special counsel Jack Smith?

Garland said Smith will be returning to the United States to take on the new role "immediately."

"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. "Mr. Smith is the right choice to complete these matters in an even-handed and urgent manner."

Former Justice official Brian Kidd, who worked with Smith in the department's Public Integrity Section, described his former colleague as "apolitical, incredibly intelligent, thorough and fair."

"Everything was based on the facts and law," Kidd said. "Jack leads by example; he wouldn't ask you to do anything he wouldn't do. He is a very quick study, and he is ready to work on Day 1. He is the type of individual you want in this job."

Smith issued a statement on Friday vowing to move quickly.

"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," Smith said. "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."

What is the political reaction to the appointment of Jack Smith?

Republicans accused Garland of politicizing the Justice Department even though the appointment of a special counsel is usually seen as an attempt to depoliticize by putting distance between the administration and the day-to-day operation of an investigation.

Trump himself called on Republican allies to resist what he characterized as another "political" attack.

"I have been going through this for six years – for six years I have been going through this, and I am not going to go through it anymore," Trump told Fox News on Friday. "And I hope the Republicans have the courage to fight this.

"It is not acceptable. It is so unfair. It is so political."

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Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, argued that the appointment represented the opposite.

"By appointing well-respected career prosecutor Jack Smith as special counsel, Attorney General Garland has demonstrated his commitment to avoiding even the appearance of politicization at the Justice Department," Durbin said in a statement. "I am confident that special counsel Smith will pursue justice in these investigations without fear or favor, following the facts and the law wherever they lead."

Contributing: David Jackson 

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Who is Jack Smith, special counsel overseeing Trump investigations?