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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Guardian staff

Who is Jack Smith, the special counsel investigating Donald Trump?

Jack Smith Donald Trump United States
Jack Smith: ‘I will exercise independent judgment and will move the investigations forward expeditiously and thoroughly to whatever outcome the facts and the law dictate.’
Jack Smith: ‘I will exercise independent judgment and will move the investigations forward expeditiously and thoroughly.’ Photograph: US Justice Department/Reuters

Jack Smith is the man the US attorney general, Merrick Garland, appointed on Friday to be an independent special counsel overseeing parallel justice department investigations into Donald Trump’s hoarding of top secret documents and involvement in the 6 January 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol, and he has been a criminal prosecutor for almost 30 years.

Smith has previously served as the chief of public integrity for the US justice department and dealt in particular with cases involving corruption, bringing cases against prominent Republicans and Democrats. In 2015 he was appointed first assistant US attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee. He is a registered independent, not aligned with either of the two dominant political parties in the US.

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