Newly-Appointed Special Counsel In Trump Investigation Has History of Bias

By Ophelia Garrett

In Brief: 

Attorney General Merrick Garland has announced the appointment of Jack Smith as special counsel in both the Mar-a-Lago documents investigation “and aspects of a separate probe” pertaining to January 6. However, Smith and his wife have long standing ties with multiple high level Democrats and have a history of deep political bias.

The Background: 

So who is Jack Smith? Most recently Smith served as chief prosecutor for the special court in The Hague, where he investigated war crimes committed during the Kosovo War. Prior to The Hague, Smith served as the vice president of litigation for the Hospital Corporation of America, the largest nongovernmental health care provider in the nation. 

In 2014, Smith convicted former Virginia Governor and Republican Bob McDonnellon corruption charges for accepting over $165,000 in gifts and loans from an affluent businessman in exchange for promoting a dietary supplement. The Supreme Court overturned the conviction in a unanimous ruling after finding the jury was given faulty instructions about what constitutes bribery under federal law. Nevertheless, the conviction destroyed McDonnell's political career- including the speculation that McDonnell could've been a Republican presidential contender in the 2016 race.

Jack Smith’s  wife, Katy Chevigny,  also made political donations to President Joe Biden and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and helped produce the 2020 Michelle Obama documentary Becoming.

Federal Election Commission records show that Chevigny contributed $1,000 each to Biden’s 2020 campaign, Biden for President, and the Biden Victory Fund super PAC on September 9, 2020. She donated $150 to the Friends of Rashida Tlaib committee in July 2008 when Tlaib was running for the Michigan House of Representatives in the state’s Twelfth District, Breitbart reports.

Notable Quotes: 

“I have been proven innocent for six years on everything — from fake impeachments to Mueller, who found no collusion, and now I have to do it more? It is not acceptable. It is so unfair. It is so political.” –Donald Trump