Attorney General Appoints Independent Prosecutor to Investigate Trump | Abroad

Smith “has built a reputation as an impartial and determined prosecutor,” Garland said Friday at a press conference at the Justice Department building in Washington DC. The special prosecutor will lead the investigations against the Republican, who announced his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election on Tuesday.

“Because of recent developments, including the former president’s announcement that he is running for president in the next election, and the incumbent president’s statement to also run, I have concluded that it is in the public interest to appoint a special prosecutor,” said Garland.

Trump is currently being targeted in two separate federal investigations. The first is about the storming of the Capitol by his supporters on January 6, 2021 at the time of Democratic rival Joe Biden’s certification of victory in the 2020 presidential election.

The extensive investigation led to charges against nearly 900 people who directly participated in the violence.

However, prosecutors have never ruled out looking at others. “Anyone criminally responsible for attempts to invalidate the election will be held accountable,” Merrick Garland said repeatedly.

The second file is about the White House archives. When he was out of office, Trump took several boxes full of documents with him. A 1978 law requires all US presidents to send all their emails, letters and other working documents to the National Archives. In January he returned fifteen boxes. After investigating, federal police suspected he was likely hiding others at Mar-a-Lago, his luxury Florida resort.

FBI agents conducted a spectacular search on Aug. 8 on a warrant for “withholding classified documents” and “obstructing a federal investigation,” and seized about 30 other boxes. An intense legal battle ensued over the nature of the seized documents – were they classified, personal or declassified? – which delayed the proceedings, but a federal charge remains possible here too.

Multiple sources tell CNN that both the investigation into the storming of the Capitol and the Mar-a-Lago investigation will gather more information in the coming weeks and testify witnesses before a federal grand jury, the equivalent of our council chamber. Prosecutors have issued several new subpoenas in recent days, some of which are due as early as next week.

Read also: Five Republican mega-donors openly turn away from Trump: “He doesn’t get a penny”

Look. FBI found 11 classified documents in Trump’s home