Trump faces ‘serious possibility’ of indictment by Special Counsel: Attorney

Renato Mariotti, an attorney and former federal prosecutor, said Friday that former President Donald Trump could face a “serious possibility” of indictment after a special counsel was appointed to oversee an investigation into whether Trump’s severe secret documents kept in his Mar-a-Lago home.

Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday appointed Jack Smith, a veteran prosecutor, as the special counsel who will investigate the Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation, the Associated Press reported.

Smith will also examine some parts of a separate investigation related to last year’s Capitol riot and Trump’s possible role in trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

“If Merrick Garland didn’t think there was a serious possibility Trump would be charged, he wouldn’t have appointed a special counsel. He has not appointed Jack Smith to complete this investigation,” Mariotti tweeted.

Garland’s decision comes after Trump officially announced he will run for president in 2024 after a poor performance by the GOP in some states during this year’s midterm elections, which resulted in Democrats winning the Senate majority. As a result, some Republicans blamed Trump for his influence on GOP candidates, which they believe led to the party’s losses.

The DOJ investigation, which Smith will oversee, comes after FBI agents searched Trump’s Florida home in August for authorization from Garland to retrieve top-secret documents he took from the White House after leaving office would have. Some of these documents reportedly contained confidential information about nuclear weapons and “highly classified programs”.

Trump has since repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and said he declassified those documents before taking them. However, former DOJ official Mary McCord previously said the ex-president did not have the authority to do so after leaving the White House.

Meanwhile, Garland said Friday that “the Justice Department has long recognized that in certain exceptional cases, it is in the public interest to appoint a special prosecutor to independently lead an investigation and prosecution.”

The attorney general added that Trump’s candidacy announcement played a role in his decision to appoint Smith as special counsel, saying it would allow prosecutors to continue their investigations “undeniably guided solely by law and fact,” according to the AP.

“Based on recent developments, including the former President’s announcement that he will stand as a candidate for President in the next elections and the incumbent President’s stated intention to also run, I have concluded that it is in the public interest to appoint a special counsel,” Garland said.

Smith is to report to Garland, who will then decide whether or not to charge Trump, the AP reported.

Smith, who is expected to start work “immediately,” headed the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Division in Washington, DC, and served as acting attorney general in Nashville, Tennessee, when former President Barack Obama was in office. He was also Chief Prosecutor of the Special Court at The Hague in the Netherlands, which investigates international war crimes.

news week contacted Trump’s media office for comment.