The special investigator has, unsurprisingly, been a thorn in his side for a long time. But if Donald Trump wins the election on November 5th, the trouble will be over for him quickly: “I would fire him within two seconds,” said the Republican US presidential candidate in a conservative podcast about Jack Smith.
Smith is a “very dishonest man”
In the interview, Trump sharply attacked the special counsel, who reports to the independent US Department of Justice, calling him a “very dishonest man.” Smith, who was appointed special counsel by Democratic Attorney General Merrick Garland under President Joe Biden, filed two cases against Trump after he left the White House.
Smith obtained the indictment against Trump in a federal court in Washington over his massive attempts to manipulate the election after his defeat by Biden in 2020. He also initiated the criminal proceedings in the documents affair in Florida – which Trump-appointed judge Aileen Cannon stopped. She justified the decision by saying that Attorney General Merrick Garland had violated the Constitution by appointing the special counsel to investigate the case. She thus granted a request from Trump’s lawyers. Smith appealed the decision.
Donald Trump should not fire special prosecutors
A US president does not have the authority to fire a special counsel, but if Trump is re-elected, he could appoint a new attorney general who could in turn do so. A Trump-appointed attorney general could also have the federal cases against him dismissed.
The campaign team of his Democratic rival Kamala Harris accuses Trump of thinking he is “above the law.” His comments were “consistent with warnings from Trump’s former chief of staff that he wants to rule like a dictator with unchecked power,” said a spokesman for the Harris campaign. “A second Trump term in which an unstable and unbalanced Trump (…) is surrounded by loyalists who support his worst instincts is guaranteed to be even more dangerous.”