US Attorney General appoints special counsel in two probes into Trump

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US Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to help determine whether charges are warranted in two cases linked to former President Donald Trump, the AG revealed on Friday.

"I’m here today to announce the appointment of a special counsel in connection with two ongoing criminal investigations that have received significant public attention," Garland told a press conference.

Check out: Donald Trump’s numerous mess-ups

"Today, I signed an order appointing Jack Smith to serve as special counsel… Smith is a veteran, career prosecutor," he added.

According to the US official, the special counsel will conduct parts of the investigations into whether any person or entity unlawfully interfered with the transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election, as well as how Trump handled classified documents and records.

Trump is accused of trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election won by his opponent, Joe Biden, as well as taking legal documents from the White House and poverty kept them in his Mar-a-Lago estate.

Former US President Donald Trump said he would "not partake" in the newly created Special Counsel probe into his handling of classified documents and the transition of power to his successor, calling it "the worst politicization of justice in our country."

"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. "It is unfair to the country, to the Republican Party, and I don’t think people should accept it. I am not going to accept it."

The FBI raided in August Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and seized numerous items, including empty folders labeled classified, as part of a probe into possible violations of sensitive materials handling protocols.

Among the papers seized in the raid were 18 documents labeled "top secret", 53 labeled "secret" and another 31 marked "confidential". Of those, seven top secret files, 17 secret files, and three confidential files were retrieved from Trump's private office.

In their warrant for the raid, the FBI cited the Espionage Act, which bans the retention and sharing of highly sensitive documents pertaining to national defense; the law against obstructing investigation; and a law against the destruction of government documents.

The violation of the Espionage Act has a possible punishment of 10 years in federal prison, the statute for obstruction carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, and the statute for the destruction of records carries a potential lifetime ban on holding public office.

Trump has denied wrongdoing and characterized the investigation as a misuse of the US justice system against him.    

The US government, as part of a court battle following the raid, requested that the purportedly classified materials be separated from other materials set to be reviewed by a neutral special master.    

The storage of materials and classified records of former presidents is governed exclusively by the Presidential Records Act, which stipulates that disputes over the disposition of records should be settled between the president and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), a US court filing said. 

The filing aligns with previous statements by Trump insisting that no classified materials were improperly stored at Mar-a-Lago. Moreover, Trump’s legal team in the filing contends that the issue could have been resolved without a raid by federal law enforcement.    

The appointment of a special counsel underscores the Justice Department’s commitment to both independence and accountability on particularly sensitive matters, Garland noted.

He also explained that the appointment was made in response to Trump and incumbent US President Joe Biden running for office again in 2024.

Special counsel Smith, Garland said, used to be a prosecutor in the Justice Department, as well as a chief prosecutor in The Hague, where he investigated the allegations of war crimes committed in Kosovo.

"I intend to conduct the assigned investigations, and any prosecution that may result from them, independently and in the best traditions of the Department of Justice," Smith said on his appointment.

He highlighted that the probes would not slow down under his watch.

Regarding the January 6 Capitol riots, Trump gave on that day in 2021 a speech to supporters, manufacturing anger as he told them to "fight like hell." He was then impeached for inciting violence, impeding a peaceful transfer of presidency to incumbent President Joe Biden. 

Trump, given his history of dodging legal processions and probes, is not likely to provide evidence to the January 6 committee over his involvement in the riots. The subpoena will expire in January upon the issuing of a new congressional term. However, if he refuses to comply, the House can hold him in criminal contempt and may send him for prosecution. 

So far, the committee has issued over 100 subpoenas and has interviewed over 1,000 people since 2021. It is worth noting that no sitting president has testified against Congress before.