We begin today with a big
development in the investigations
into former President Donald Trump.
Attorney General Merrick
Garland announcing
he is appointing a special counsel
to oversee the criminal investigation
of Trump's role
in the January six
insurrection
and attempts to overturn
the 2020 election,
as well as the probe
of the classified documents
seized from his Mar a Lago estate.
Here's Garland
explaining this extraordinary move
based on recent developments,
including the former
president's announcement
that he is a candidate for president
in the next election
and the sitting presidents
stated intention
to be a candidate as well.
I have concluded that it is
in the public interest
to appoint a special counsel.
The attorney general is naming former
acting U.S.
Attorney Jack Smith as special counsel.
Smith is a career
prosecutor who currently serves
as the chief prosecutor
for the special court of The Hague,
where he investigated war crimes.
Garland says
Smith's appointment
will not slow down
the pace of the investigations,
which CNN has learned
have actually ramped up here
in recent weeks,
with prosecutors in both cases
sending out multiple new subpoenas
to witnesses.
Donald Trump is also dismissing
the appointment of the special counsel
just moments ago,
calling the move unfair and political.
CNN's senior legal affairs
correspondent Paula Reed reports
on what
to expect from the new special counsel
and what his appointment means for
the former president.
In certain extraordinary cases,
it is in the public interest
to appoint a special prosecutor
to independently manage
an investigation and prosecution.
Attorney General
Merrick Garland naming former
Justice Department official Jack Smith
to independently head up
to major criminal investigations
focused on former President Donald Trump.
The move coming
just days
after Trump
announced his third run for president
underscoring the legal jeopardy
the former president faces.
As CNN
has learned,
prosecutors recently sent out
a fresh round of subpoenas
in both probes.
Based on recent developments,
including the former president's
announcement that he is a candidate
for president in the next election
and the sitting president
stated intention
to be a candidate as well.
I have concluded that it is
in the public interest
to appoint a special counsel.
Jack Smith has previously served
in multiple roles
at the Justice Department and since 2018.
He has been the chief prosecutor
for the Special Court of The Hague
investigating war crimes in Kosovo.
He will now oversee
the criminal investigation
into whether Trump mishandled
national secrets
after the FBI
seized thousands of documents
from his Mar a Lago residence in August,
including some marked classified
that were taken from the White House.
They should give me immediately back
everything that they've taken from me,
because it's mine. It's mine.
The special counsel will also now
oversee aspects
of the investigation
into the attack on the Capitol
on January six. 20, 21
and what
Trump's role may
have been leading up to that day.
And we're going to the Capitol.
Justice officials had hoped appointing
a special counsel
would help insulate the department
from political blowback
while investigating and possibly
charging a presidential candidate.
But tonight, the Trump
spokesman called the appointment
a political stunt.
And Brianna, as we've seen
in previous investigations,
it will likely be impossible
to shield this work
from political attacks.
Yeah, it certainly will be.
Paula, thank you for that report.
I do want to bring in
CNN's Kristen Holmes.
Kristen, Trump started this week
announcing his presidential campaign.
He's ending it here
with this special counsel announcement.
How is he reacting to this news?
Well, the former president is lashing out
at this special counsel announcement.
He just did an interview moments
after the appointment
of the special counsel.
And here's what he said.
He said,
I have been proven innocent
for six years on everything
from fake impeachment
to Mueller who found no collusion.
And now I have to do it more.
It is not acceptable.
It is so unfair.
This was political
politicization of justice.
The Republican Party
has to stand up and fight.
He also goes on to say he's
not going to partake in any of this.
Now we know that his legal team
had been dreading this prospect
that they did not want this
to prolong the investigation.
But I talked to people
around his campaign
who said that they were prepared
for this,
that they believed
that this could be a possibility
and they were ready.
And clearly here
we can see from Donald
Trump is reacting
like he always does,
dismissing this and playing the victim.
You can hear
how he's going to
play this on the campaign trail.
He always takes what is a legal negative
and tries
to often successfully
make it into a political positive.
At least with his base.
Well, that's absolutely right.
And there is a hope
among those around him
who particularly saw his announcement,
thought he was subdued,
thought that
maybe he doesn't have
the magnetism, doesn't have the energy
that incidents like this,
like anything involving
these investigations, will
actually rally
his base, rally Republicans.
And you hear that
in that final line there.
The Republican Party
has to stand up and fight.
It is not a coincidence
that he's talking about this at a time
when Republicans are turning their back
on the former president saying
it's time to move on from him.
He is bringing the party into this
after he made an announcement.
And it's not surprising
because we know that Trump wants
to have that support
from the party, particularly
going into 20, 24
as part of his announcement
was to freeze the field
anyway and put himself in front.
Yeah, it'll be so telling
if this is animating or not.
Kristen Holmes, thank you.
Let's bring in CNN's Jeremy Diamond.
He is at the White House.
So, Jeremy, did
President Biden
have any idea that this was coming?
Because this is all
been kept
pretty separate here
historically from the White House.
Yeah, that's right, Brianna.
Well, news of the appointment
of the special counsel broke
as President
Biden was walking into a room
with business executives
and labor leaders.
And as soon as the president
finished speaking,
I and other reporters in the room
shouted at the president
to ask him for his reaction
to the special counsel.
Now, he didn't answer.
But it also appears that he didn't know
at the time.
And that's
because I'm told by multiple
White House officials
that the White House
did not get any heads up
from the Justice Department
about the decision
or the
or the planned announcement
of the appointment
of this special counsel
Another White House
official emphasized that point
by saying that the Department of Justice
makes decisions
about its criminal investigations
independently, saying we are not involved
and that's all very intentional.
Of course,
we have seen that President Biden,
you know, he succeeded a president
who really blurred
those lines,
who sought to repeatedly interfere
with the Justice Department's
independence and its investigations.
And so President Biden,
one of his first tasks
coming into
office was to try and reestablish
that bright red line
between the Justice Department
and the White House,
particularly as it relates to ongoing
criminal investigations.
And that has been the White House's
motto here, as they have had
been asked questions
about various criminal investigations,
including those into the former president
or also the criminal investigation
into the president's son.
They have repeatedly given the same line
which is that they do not comment
on active investigations
and they respect the Justice Department's
independence Brianna.
Jeremy Diamond
live for us at the White House,
thank you so much.
And let's talk about all of this
now with our legal experts.
We have Elie Honig
and Jennifer Rogers with us.
Jennifer, does this special counsel
announcement indicate
anything about Trump's
chances of being indicted?
Well,
Brianna, I think that it means
that they're ramping this thing up.
I mean, you wouldn't
bother appointing a special counsel
if they had determined that they weren't
going to charge him
and they were just going to wind it down
over the next weeks and months.
So it's certainly not 100% certain
that they will charge him,
but they're pushing ahead.
They're issuing subpoenas.
And this definitely means
that there is at least a good chance
that ultimately
there will be charges filed.
Eliot, Trump's response to
this was to say, I announce or, you know,
I announce I'm running
and then they announce
that they're going to do this
with the special counsel.
You heard the attorney general making it
clear that,
yes, that was the consideration,
but in a way
it was to take it out of this
political mix.
What do you think of the timing here?
Well, the whole point of doing this, of
appointing a special counsel
is to avoid the appearance
of a conflict of interest.
And according to the attorney general,
Donald Trump's official announcement
that we heard earlier this week,
that was the trigger.
And he said we essentially
can't have a scenario
where you have me,
Merrick Garland, as Joe Biden's
attorney general, investigating somebody
who is likely or potentially
going to be running against Joe
Biden in 20, 24.
But the response is
exactly what we could have expected.
We're already starting
to hear it from Donald Trump,
which is essentially
if this is a conflict of interest now,
why wasn't it a conflict of interest
when this started over a year ago?
It's not some surprise
that Donald Trump's running.
He's long been considered a frontrunner.
And so I think we're hearing from Trump
and we'll hear from others
who support him.
Essentially, DOJ is almost admitting
that what's been done up to now
potentially has been subject
to a conflict of interest.
And they're only addressing it now,
but they may argue it's too late.
Jennifer, what do you think
Well, I don't know.
I mean, listen,
I don't think you can expect
a special counsel
to be appointed
at the outset of an investigation
before you really know
what you have is, you're gathering facts.
I mean, at least point is well taken.
We're certainly going to hear
those arguments from the Trump team.
But I think that Merrick Garland
has been so deliberate
about everything that he's done,
so thoughtful,
and they really have bent over backwards
in all of these matters.
To be fair to the president,
to give him more process,
frankly, than anyone else
would have gotten
I mean, look how the search at Mar
a Lago was handled.
And so I think this is another step
in Merrick Garland's
attempts to be more than fair
to the former president.
And I think the special counsel is part
and parcel of that practice.
So I think after all is said and done,
it should be said
that he is treating this
about as carefully as he can
You know, when Robert Mueller
was announced as special counsel,
I mean, everyone,
of course, knew who he was in here
when Jack Smith is announced.
It's interesting.
A lot of people don't know who he is.
He's not a very well-known figure.
And I wonder
if that was maybe on purpose.
Oh, I'm sure it had to be deliberate.
The special counsel regulations
that the person say that the person
has to be somebody
from outside of the federal government
now, which Jack Smith is,
and somebody with a strong reputation
for independence.
If this was somebody who was already
well known,
there would be a book on the person
one way or another.
Now,
I am quite certain that Donald Trump
and his lawyers
are digging into Jack Smith right now
and looking to see
if he ever donated $5
to either political party
or went to a fundraiser
or anything like that.
But I think it was a smart move.
The whole point here is to create
at least an appearance of independence.
And so if you can get someone
who is both essentially anonymous,
not well known
in the public,
but also has the background,
the Jack Smith has has the resume.
He's been a state prosecutor,
a federal prosecutor, a war crimes
prosecutor over many decades.
I think that's exactly
what you should be looking for
in the special counsel.