Rep. Matt Gaetz has asked the DOJ Inspector General to investigate Special Counsel Jack Smith over whether he is allowing the 2024 election to impact the timing of the case against Trump.
Gaetz cited DOJ rules barring prosecutors from affecting elections.
He argued that Smith’s request for the Supreme Court to expedite review of Trump’s immunity claim, without stating why rapid review is needed, implies Smith wants a trial before the 2024 election.
“Specifically, that reply brief repeatedly urges ‘rapid’ review of the federal prosecution of Presidential Candidate Donald J. Trump, and the incredible ‘public importance’ of the case, without once explicitly stating why the rapidity is warranted, or what the public importance is,” Gaetz said.
While the Supreme Court is considering the immunity question, Gaetz said Smith’s actions violate policy aimed at preventing interference in elections.
“Were there a legitimate, non-election related purpose for this request, these attorneys, who have filed in appeals courts many times, would have listed such. Since charges have been filed and the defendant himself is taking a legal position on timing and lodging various appeals, that justification cannot, for example, be the rights of the defendant under the Constitution or Speedy Trial Act,” he added.
“So, there can be only one conclusion: Special Counsel Jack Smith sees it as of paramount importance to hold a trial before the November 2024 election, but he is unable to explicitly say so, as such a justification is in violation of Departmental policy and law,” he said.
“The witch hunt against President Trump by Attorney General Garland and Special Counsel Smith is a partisan exercise, and the American people know it,” Gaetz said. “The actions of the Special Counsel Smith to speed up the trial against President Trump violate the DOJ’s rules and the law. His public comments and his office’s briefs before the Supreme Court demonstrate that he has no reason for his actions other than to unlawfully interfere in the 2024 presidential election.”
“It is indisputable that we are already in an election season. However, the Justice Manual does not set hard dates,” Gaetz wrote. “It is the core of prohibited conduct that a purpose (not the purpose) of any official action of a prosecutor be to affect any election: it may be morally correct that the American people should see swift resolution of this case, perhaps with dropped charges or a Trump acquittal before the November 2024 Presidential election, but wielding Executive Branch authority in the service of this is a violation of law. Prosecutors must be held to a higher standard.”
Gaetz urged Horowitz to give his “immediate attention into compliance of the Office of Special Counsel Jack Smith with Departmental regulations, particularly related to investigatory and prosecutorial actions during an election season.”
Gaetz asserted that the prosecution is a partisan exercise aimed at unlawfully interfering in the presidential race.
“The precise scope of an investigation may be as narrow as interviewing the Special Counsel, and determining that he has a lawful purpose in seeking the expediting of his case against Donald Trump, and determining that he did not have the purpose of keying a trial date to the election calendar. Or it may be wider,” the letter read. “Please alert my office of any developments in this matter.”
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