Garland appointed Jack Smith three days after Trump announced his 2024 run.
QUICK FACTS:
- Former President Donald Trump responded to Attorney General Merrick Garland’s appointment of a special counsel, Jack Smith, to investigate whether charges will be brought against him.
- Trump’s response was a frustrated one, as he took to his social media platform, Truth Social, posting, “Here we go again!”
- “I thought that the Unselect Committee on January 6th was a dead issue,” he went on, adding that he “likewise felt that the document hoax case, after reviewing the Clinton Socks Case & the Presidential Record Act, was dead, or at least dying fast. The Democrat Department of ‘Justice’ had nothing, except Trump haters, so they just appointed a Special Prosecutor to go after me further. Disgraceful!”
- Trump said he plans to address the issue this evening during a livestream at Mar-a-Lago at 8:30pm.
GARLAND’S ANNOUNCEMENT:
- Garland announced the special counsel earlier in the day Friday, pointing to documents kept by the former president as the reason for the investigation.
- The attorney general also said the investigation will cover the “insurrection” charges that were leveled at the president for the Jan. 6, 2021 protest at Capitol Hill.
BACKGROUND:
- Republicans have been mulling a special counsel appointment of their own, with support growing for an investigation into first-son Hunter Biden, American Faith reported in April of this year.
- House Republicans said they were concerned the Department of Justice “has an actual conflict of interest” that could “prevent a fair and impartial investigation.”
- Nealry 100 lawmakers urged Garland to appoint a special counsel to investigate Biden’s foreign business dealings, saying it has signs of being an influence-peddling scandal.
- “It is increasingly clear that Hunter Biden took advantage of his father’s position as Vice President to develop business relationships with clients in Ukraine, China, and Kazakhstan,” the politicians wrote in their letter. “Hunter Biden likely facilitated lobbying for foreign entities through third-party channels without registering for the Foreign Agents Registration Act.”
