Special prosecutors appointed to conduct criminal investigations of potential wrongdoing have struck fear into the Reagan, Clinton and George W. Bush administrations. With former President Donald Trump’s claims he’s been indicted Thursday, he could be the latest to fall into that category.
The Iran-Contra investigation dragged on for close to eight years; Ken Starr pursued Bill Clinton relentlessly in the 1990s, resulting in Clinton’s impeachment over his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky; Pat Fitzgerald pursued the leak that outed the identity of a CIA operative. These investigations all took on lives of their own, and many questioned if all the time, money, effort and heartburn were worth it.
These investigations all took on lives of their own, and many questioned if all the time, money, effort and heartburn were worth it.
Former President Donald Trump experienced this same sort of investigation over potential Russian interference in the 2016 election. Robert Mueller’s probe concluded without criminal charges for the former president. But the legal peril facing Trump in 2023 feels very different, given the number of legal entanglements tormenting the former president and audio recordings potentially capturing his alleged misconduct in his own words.
Much of Trump’s fate currently rests in the hands of a different special prosecutor. And unlike the indictment in New York involving the Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal payments, or the Georgia election tampering matter in Fulton County, Trump will have a much harder time vilifying Jack Smith. His background and reputation require no caveats.
Most recently, Smith had been working in The Hague, investigating war crimes in Kosovo. Before that, he’d worked as a prosecutor in New York City, the Eastern District of New York and the Middle District of Tennessee. He’s investigated everything from gang killings and crimes against humanity to public corruption.
Pre-Trump, the idea that a former…
Read the full article here