U.S. federal agency investigates special counsel who indicted Trump
發佈日期: 2025-08-03 21:53
TVB News
A U.S. federal agency has opened a formal investigation into former Special Counsel Jack Smith, who oversaw two criminal probes into President Donald Trump after his first term in the White House.
The Office of Special Counsel is looking into whether Smith violated a law prohibiting federal employees from using their positions for political activity.
Washington, D.C., August 1st, 2023. Jack Smith, special counsel appointed by the Department of Justice,
makes an announcement.
He said: "Good evening. Today, an indictment was unsealed, charging Donald J. Trump with conspiring to defraud the United States, conspiring to disenfranchise voters, and conspiring and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding."
It is now Smith who is under investigation, for those very words uttered that launched two criminal probes into then former President Trump.
Smith's investigations focused on an accusation that Trump illegally retained classified material at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida; and another related to Trump's attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss that sparked the January 6th, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol. Trump denied any wrongdoing.
The former war crimes prosecutor resigned from his post in January as Trump was starting his second term. He had abandoned the two cases, which never went to trial, because of a Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president.
Smith had yet to make a statement in response.
The Office of Special Counsel, or OSC, distinct to Smith's title as a special counsel, launched the investigation after a request by this man, U.S. Senator Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican.
Cotton had accused Smith of aggressively pursuing cases against Trump with the aim of derailing his 2024 presidential election campaign.
The OSC is looking into whether Smith violated the Hatch Act, a law prohibiting federal employees from using their positions for political activity. Both cases were brought in 2023, well over a year before the election.
Merrick Garland, the then-attorney general who appointed Smith in 2022, has said that politics played no part in the investigation.
The OSC is an independent watchdog agency and has no criminal enforcement power. It does have the authority to impose fines and other sanctions.
