2023-06-13 18:00:08
The pale face, the salt-and-pepper beard, the sunken cheeks, but above all the straight gaze, ignoring the camera. On June 6, a team from the NBC chain surprised Jack Smith walking between two bodyguards, bag on his shoulder. Rare proof of life: since his appointment in November 2022 by the Minister of Justice, Merrick Garland, the special prosecutor in charge of the two federal investigations targeting Donald Trump has remained of absolute discretion.
On June 8, Jack Smith agreed to appear before the press to read a short statement, confirming the indictment of Donald Trump, formalized on Tuesday June 13. The independent magistrate wanted to pose the challenge of his instruction: not a settling of scores of a political nature, but the protection of state secrets and national security. The other file for which he is responsible is no less serious, since it is the attempted coup d’etat during the transition period, at the end of 2020, which culminated in the January 6 assault on Capitol.
“Mr. Smith is the right choice to complete these tasks fairly and quickly”, explained Merrick Garland at the time of his appointment. The choice of the Minister of Justice to call on a special prosecutor came at a time when Donald Trump had just announced his candidacy for the Republican primaries, with a view to the presidential election of 2024. This collision between the political and judicial calendars constitutes a situation without precedent in the United States, especially since Donald Trump relies on one to feed the other, arguing a conspiracy to bring him down.
gigantic pressure
Very quickly, the candidate also launched his first rounds of insults against Jack Smith, calling him a “thug”of ” disturbs “, of “hateful”. The pressure on Jack Smith’s shoulders seems gigantic. It is not only his career that is at stake, but the credibility of the prosecution service and the functioning of the rule of law.
Aged 54, Jack Smith grew up in Clay, near Syracuse (New York). A graduate of New York University at Oneonta, then Harvard Law School, he had his first job with the district attorney’s office in Manhattan, before moving to that of Brooklyn. In these functions, he was in charge of very diverse investigations, between violent crimes and financial delinquency. Between 2010 and 2015, Jack Smith took the head of the public integrity unit, within the ministry of justice, which follows, in particular, sensitive files of corruption. At the time, the press questioned his eagerness to close certain political investigations, which he considered unfinished. He had defended himself from any trembling hand.
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