CNN –
Jack Smith, the special counsel announced Friday by Attorney General Merrick Garland to oversee criminal investigations into the withholding of classified documents at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort and parts of the January 6 uprising in 2021 is a long time. – Seasoned prosecutor who has overseen a variety of high-profile cases during a career spanning decades.
Smith’s experience ranges from prosecuting a sitting U.S. senator to bringing cases against gang members who were ultimately convicted of murdering New York City police officers. In recent years, Smith has prosecuted war crimes in The Hague. His career in various parts of the Department of Justice, as well as in international courts, has allowed him to maintain a relatively low profile in the often brazen legal industry.
His experience and resume will allow him, at least initially, to fly below the kind of political back-and-forth that former special counsel Robert Mueller’s team quickly became familiar with. He also demonstrates that he is an expert in handling complex criminal cases involving both public corruption and national security, and that he has practice making challenging decisions with political implications.
Smith is expected to be tasked with making policy decisions about whether to indict a former US president. Garland’s statements on Friday and recent steps taken in the Mar-a-Lago and Jan. 6 investigations have indicated that, at the very least, Donald Trump is under investigation and could be charged with a crime.
“He knows how to do high-profile cases. He’s independent. He’s not going to be influenced by anybody,” said Greg Andres, a former member of Mueller’s team.
Andres, who has known Smith since the late 1990s, when they started together in a U.S. attorney’s office and eventually became co-chiefs of the office’s criminal division, said he is it is the breadth of Smith’s experience that will allow him to withstand public scrutiny and become tough. judgment call
“He will evaluate the evidence and understand what kind of case should be charged or not. He has the kind of experience to make those judgments,” Andres said.
“He understands the courtroom. He understands how to judge a case. He knows how to prove a case,” he added. “Especially in these circumstances, it will be critical to understand what types of evidence are required to prove the case in court.”
In a statement following his announcement, Smith pledged to conduct the investigations “independently and in the best traditions of the Department of Justice.”
“The pace of investigations will not stop or flag under my control. I will exercise independent judgment and move investigations swiftly and thoroughly to whatever outcome the facts and law dictate,” Smith said.
A former colleague noted that Smith has prosecuted members of both parties.
“It’s going to be very aggressive,” the person said, adding that “things are going to accelerate.” Smith, they said, “works very quickly” and has a unique ability to quickly determine the things that are important to a case and doesn’t waste time “getting carried away with things that are real sideshows.”
In court, Smith comes across as down-to-earth and relatable, this person said, which he characterized as a good attribute to have as a prosecutor.
Smith also won’t care about the politics surrounding the case, they said, adding that he has a very thick skin and is “going to do what he’s going to do.”
Smith began his career as an Assistant District Attorney in the New York County District Attorney’s Office in 1994. He served in the Eastern District of New York in 1999 as an Assistant United States Attorney, where he prosecuted cases including civil rights violations and police officers killed by gangs, according to the Justice Department.
As a prosecutor in Brooklyn, New York, one of Smith’s most important and high-profile cases was the prosecution of gang member Ronell Wilson for the murder of two New York City Police Department detectives during a sting operation. ‘undercover weapons in Staten Island.
Wilson was convicted and sentenced to death, the first death penalty case in New York at the time in 50 years, although a judge later found him ineligible for the death penalty.
Moe Fodeman, who worked with Smith at EDNY, called him “one of the best trial lawyers I’ve ever seen.”
“He is a phenomenal researcher; leaves no stone unturned. Dig deeper to get to the real facts,” Fodeman said.
Fodeman, who is still friends with Smith, said he is a “literally crazy” cyclist and triathlete.
Beginning in 2008, Smith worked for the International Criminal Court and oversaw war crimes investigations in the Office of the Prosecutor for two years.
In 2010, he became Chief of the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section, where he oversaw the litigation of public corruption cases before being appointed First Assistant US Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee in 2015.
Although not well known in Washington, DC legal circles, Smith is described as a consummate public servant.
About a decade ago, he hired waves of line prosecutors in the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section, overseeing dozens during his years in office.
Brian Kidd, whom Smith hired into the unit, recalled how his boss walked him through every step of a complicated extortion case against corrupt police officers.
“I was not going to tolerate a politically motivated prosecution,” Kidd said. “And he has an incredible ability to motivate the people who work with him and under him. He’s an incredible support to his team.”
Smith handled some of the most high-profile political corruption cases in recent memory, with mixed results.
He was the head of the public integrity unit when then-Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell was indicted in 2014, and was in meetings with the defense team and involved in decision-making leading up to the charges , according to a person familiar with the case. .
McDonnell was initially convicted of receiving gifts for political favors, but his conviction was later overturned by the Supreme Court.
Smith also headed the unit when the DOJ failed to convict former senator and vice presidential candidate John Edwards at trial.
In recent years, while working in The Hague, he has not lived in the United States. He is no longer on the USA Triathlon Team, but remains a competitive rider.
Smith took over as acting U.S. attorney when David Rivera left in early 2017 before leaving the Justice Department later that year to become vice president of litigation at Hospital Corporation of America. In 2018, he became chief prosecutor of the special court in The Hague, where he investigated war crimes in Kosovo.
“Throughout his career, Jack Smith has built a reputation as an impartial and determined prosecutor, leading teams with the energy and focus to follow the facts wherever they lead,” Garland said during the announcement Friday. “Mr. Smith is the right choice to complete these matters in an equitable and urgent manner.”
In May 2014, the House Oversight Committee interviewed Smith behind closed doors as part of the Republican-led investigation into alleged IRS targeting of conservative groups. Then-Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa launched the investigation after a 2013 inspector general’s report found delays in processing requests from certain conservative groups and asked them for information that later was considered unnecessary.
Republicans sought the testimony of Smith, who was the head of the Public Integrity Section at the time, because of his involvement in setting up a 2010 meeting between Justice Department officials and the then IRS official Lois Lerner, the official at the center of the IRS scandal. The meeting had been called to discuss the “evolving legal landscape” of campaign finance law following the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, according to a May 2014 letter written by Issa and Rep. Jim Jordan, the Ohio Republican who is expected to be the House Judiciary. president next year.
“It is clear that the Department’s leadership, including Public Integrity Section Chief Jack Smith, was heavily involved in working with the IRS in the wake of Citizens United and political pressure from prominent Democrats to address the perceived problems with the decision,” Issa and Jordan wrote in the letter requesting Smith’s testimony.
Smith said his office “had a dialogue” with the FBI about opening investigations related to politically active nonprofits after the meeting with Lerner, but ultimately did not, according to a copy from his interview obtained by CNN.
Smith explained that he had requested the meeting with the IRS because he wanted to learn more about the legal landscape for political nonprofits after the Citizens United decision because he was relatively new to the public integrity section. He said Lerner explained that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to make a case about abuse of tax-exempt status.
Smith repeated at several points in the interview that the Justice Department did not conduct an investigation for political reasons.
“I want to be clear: it would be more about looking at the issue, to see if it made sense to open investigations”,…