Jack Smith Appointed Special Counsel

Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Jack Smith as Special Counsel to oversee criminal investigations into Donald Trump's handling of classified documents and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Smith, a veteran war crimes prosecutor who had led the DOJ Public Integrity Section and served as chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, immediately began impaneling grand juries in Washington D.C. and Florida. The appointment signaled that the investigations had reached a critical phase.